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MILES MERWIN 



1623 - 1697 



AND ONE BRANCH 



-OF- 



HIS DESCENDANTS 



-BY- 



CAROLINE GAYLORD NEWTON 



1909 






%• ■ 



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:^. 



MILES MERWIN 

1623-1697 

AND ONE BRANCH OF HIS DESCENDANTS 



In the early part of the year 1630, in the town 
of Plymouth in England, there was a solemn 
ceremony, of the organization of a church com- 
posed entirely of those who were about leaving, 
or had already left their homes, and were com- 
ing together, members of one church family, to 
make new homes in the new world of America. 

Eev. John Warham, a man of excellent edu- 
cation and ability, a graduate of Oxford Uni- 
versity, was installed pastor, and Mr. John 
Branker was ruling elder and school master. 

There were one hundred and forty persons in 
this company, some of them little children, and 
among them was one boy named Miles Merwin, 
supposed to be at that time about seven years 
old, who was to cross the ocean in the care of 
his Aunt Abigail, the wife of John Branker. 

They sailed from Plymouth the 20th day of 
March, 1630, in the ship Mary and John, called 



^'Mr. Ludlow's vessel," of about 400 tons 

burden. 

They were ten weeks on the ocean, and as 

there were two ministers with them, they had 

preaching every day of the voyage. 

The ship reached the land at Nantasket, 

Mass., on the Sabbath-day, May 30th, and the 

next day, Monday, they were put on shore with 

their goods and cattle. 

After some exploration by ten men of their 

number, they chose a place for settlement, and 
named it Dorchester. 

In that first year after their arrival in this 
country, they endured much hardship. They 
might perhaps have planted some seeds, as they 
were here in the month of June, but they must 
first have some shelter for wives and little ones, 
and with little sowing, there was little reaping, 
and in the winter of 1630-31, they suftered from 
hunger. They were near the coast, and clams, 
muscles and fish were the chief articles of food. 
A pleasant sight to them were the friendly 
Indians who came with baskets of yellow corn 
on their backs for sale, and later, ships came 
laden with the same from Virginia, until, as one 
of them writes " they were filled with food and 
gladness. Then did all the servants of God 
bless His holy name, and love one another with 
pure hearts fervently." 



They remained in Dorchester five years, hear- 
ing much during that time about the fertile 
meadow land bordering on the Great River 
westward. Meadow land, so-called, which was 
comparatively free from forests, and did not 
need to be cleared by hard labor with the axe, 
was much desired by them, and in the autumn 
of the year 1635, about sixty men, women and 
children, with them young Miles Merwin, driv- 
ing before them their cattle and swine, a tedious 
journey of many days, reached and crossed the 
Connecticut River, and settled themselves on its 
western shore, between that and the Farming- 
ton River, which they called the Rivulet. 

Their new home they at first named Dorches- 
ter, but the name was changed to Windsor, at a 
meeting of the General Court in February 1636- 
7. 

It was not to a wilderness they came, like the 
Pilgrims of 1620, a few having settled here 
before the coming of the church body; for this 
was the second removal of the church which had 
been formed in England, and there were no new 
ceremonies of church organization either in 
Dorchester or Windsor. 

It was now the month of October, and but 
little time could be counted on for preparing 
shelter for themselves and their cattle. 

Some began digging cellars, usually choosing 



the slope of a hill; some chopped down trees and 
hewed them roughly and hastily; these laid 
around and over the cellars, and thatched with 
the dry meadow grass, were their abodes for the 
first hard winter, and served as foundations for 
the log houses to be later built. 

The winter came earlv; the river was frozen 
over by the middle of November, and there was 
much suffering. 

Many of the cattle died; one estimate says 
they lost in their dying stock, the value of 
£2400, and some of the remainder they were 
obliged to kill for food. 

The Indians were numerous, and being at 
first friendly, helped out their supplies some- 
what by corn and acorns. 

All the land in the three neighboring settle- 
ments of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield 
had been honestly purchased of the Indians, 
although those Indians did not realize that they 
would be crowded out of their hunting and fish- 
ing by the palefaces. 

The next year, in 1636, the Indians became 
very threatening, and formed a plan for driving 
all the white settlers from New England. 

Upon their first coming to Windsor, the In- 
dians were peaceful, and the settlers chose their 
home lots as far from each other as they pleased ; 
but within two years, early in 1637, there was 



evidently danger from some of the neighboring 
tribes, and every family who had been farther 
away moved to the center, those who were 
already there, giving up a part of their land to 
these others, and all giving their time and 
strength to cutting and setting a strong pali- 
sade of high stakes or posts, braced within, and 
encircled outside by a wide, deep ditch. I have 
seen traces of this ditch two hundred and sixty 
years later. 

The whole length of this line of palisades was 
but little less than a mile, and after it was 
finished, a constant guard was necessary, lest 
the Indians should succeed in climbing over, or 
in setting fire to it. 

The story of the Pequot War need not be told 
here. Miles Merwin was probably too young to 
have any part in it, but not too young to help 
in gathering the supplies, or to guard the Pali- 
sade, within which, for a time, all must dwell. 

At the Court of the Colonies convened at 
Hartford, May 1st, 1637, it was decided that 
there should be an offensive war against the 
Pequots, and Captain John Mason, one of these 
Windsor settlers, was apointed commander of 
the ninety men who were to go against that 
tribe. 

Windsor was to furnish thirty men, and as 
its share of supplies, sixty bushels of corn, fifty 



pieces of pork, thirty pounds of rice and four 
cheeses. Each plantation must have its corn 
ground and a part of it made into bread. 

Whether the corn-mill called Warham's Mill 
was in operation at this time, is uncertain, but 
it was running soon after, for in 1640 the 
record reads : 

"Mr. John Warham has by gift of 
ye Town one acre of land more or less, 
lying by his mill, as it bounds north, 
beginning at ye fall of ye water out of 
ye Trough upon ye Wheel." 

Tradition claims that this was the first grist 
mill in Connecticut, and that it ground the corn 
of neighboring towns as far away as Middle- 
town. The Colonists erected it, fitted it with a 
great clumsy wheel, and presented it to Rev. 
Mr. Warham, as a part of his support. 

Twenty-four years later, in 1664, he gave a 
deed of it to his wife, Abigail Branker Warham, 
the aunt of Miles Merwin, and it is probable 
that Miles had spent many hours in watching 
the grain through the hopper, and taking the 
minister's toll. 

The beautiful Green, near the old Windsor 
church, has always borne the name of Palisado 
Green in memory of the early Indian troubles. 

After the close of the Pequot War, and the 



return of Captain Mason and his men, some left 
the protection of the Palisade and returned to 
their farms, and there was but little more 
trouble with Indians. 

The Rev. Mr. Warham removed across the 
Farmington River and built his house near the 
small Mill-brook upon which his mill was stand- 
ing, and one of his numerous deeds mentions a 
"small palisade" which must have been set up 
there for the protection of those who could not 
in a time of danger, cross to Palisado Green. 

It was several years before there was a per- 
manent bridge, and the minister was obliged to 
cross in a row-boat or canoe every Sabbath day. 
The Rivulet, as they called it, was usually nar- 
row and quiet, but in the spring it was often a 
wide roaring torrent. 

In 1650, it was ordered at the town meeting 
that "upon the Lord's days, none shall go into 
the canoe before the magistrates and elders, 
and that there shall not go at any time above 
thirty-five persons in the great canoe, and not 
above six in the little canoe, upon penalty of 
five pence." 

Mr. Branker with his wife and Miles Merwin, 
were living on the farther side near Mr, War- 
ham, and as ruling elder, he with his family 
was favored with an early passage across the 
river. 



The meeting-house was erected in 1640, but 
was not finished until a long time after that, 
for every board was sawed by hand, and the 
nails were made, one by one, by a blacksmith, 
and the trouble with the Indians had taken 
much time. 

It is said by Cotton Mather that Mr. Warham 
was the first minister in this country to preach 
with notes. Some of his sermons are still in 
existence in the State Library in Hartford. 

Mather, speaking of the notable energy and 
vigor of his ministry, says : " He was as pious 
a man as most that were out of Heaven." John 
Warham and Thomas Hooker had been friends 
in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and their 
friendship was continued in Connecticut as 
neighbors ; Warham having come in 1636, 
Hooker in 1636. 

Besides his church and his mill, Mr. AVarham 
had a fondness for dealing in real estate, as did 
many others who came from England, where a 
right in land was more difficult to obtain. There 
are on the records, twelve or more deeds of 
property with his name attached. 

Miles Merwin, upon becoming of legal age, 
had this prevalent habit of buying and selling 
again. 

He bought of Mr. Whiting a lot west of the 
Rivulet with the building thereon for £8. The 



price seems very low, but this is supposed to 
have been the stone house which was built by 
Rodger Ludlow, who removed to Fairfield. The 
house was built on the bank of the river, be- 
tween that and a smaller brook flowing into it, 
and the spring floods came very near it, on one 
occasion entirely surrounding it ; so that it was 
"drowned very deep." Miles found it, for this 
reason or some other, "too hard" for him, and 
was released from his bargain. 

He bought a lot in the Great Meadow for £20 
and was released from this also by Mr. Whit- 
ing's executors. 

Thomas Marshfield had built a house on the 
lot next north of Mr. Branker's in 1637, which 
was afterwards purchased by Roger Williams, 
who owned it for three years, and sold it then, 
in 1650, the homestead with the land, to Miles 
Merwin. 

Miles was then twenty- seven years old, and 
was already married to Elizabeth Baldwin, 
widow of Theophilus Canfield, and it is supposed 
that the three elder children, John, Elizabeth 
and Thomas, were born in this house, which 
stood on the east side of Broad Street. 

He sold the place in 1652 to Captain Samuel 
Marshall, but Marshall did not occupy it, and 
probably Miles Merwin remained in it until his 
removal to Mil ford. 



In an old "Book of Rates" concerning seating 
the meeting-house in Windsor, under date of 
January 18th, 1659-60, Miles Merwin's name is 
down as paying seven shillings ; this was the 
highest price paid for a man and his wife, and 
very few paid as much as that, but this was not 
the yearly payment. 

When the meeting-house was built, pews 
were not provided, and each man apparently, 
paid for building a seat for himself. 

Miles Merwin's was one of those raised a little 
higher than others, which accounts for a shill- 
ing more in price. 

Miles Merwin was admitted to the church in 
Milford May 4th, 1661, his wife in June of the 
same year. Her youngest child, Daniel, was 
born June 30th, 1661. 

Lambert's History says that Miles Merwin 
was in Milford in 1645, but this is a mistake 
which probably arose from confusing his name 
with that of Miles Moore, who was there at 
that date. 

In the earliest original record of the Town of 
Milford, which I have carefully examined, 
Moore's name is spelled M-u-r, in the list of 
baptisms, as follows : 

Deborah, dau. Isabel, wife of Miles M-u-r, 
bapt. Oct. 31, 1647. 



lO 



Miriam, dau. Isabel, wife of Miles M-ii-r, 
bapt. Dec. 12, 1647. 

Lydia, dau. Isabel, wife of Miles M-u-r, bapt. 
Oct. 5, 1649. 

On other pages of the record, the following : 

Abel, son of Miles Moor, Feb. loth, 1652. 
Mary, dau. Miles Moor, Nov. 9th, 1653. 
Elnathan, son Miles Moor, Sept. 1655. 

In the list of planters in 1646, his name is 
Miles Moore. 

This list of Moor children is inserted here, 
because some have erroneously supposed the 
Deborah, Miriam and Lydia, named above, to 
be children of Miles Merwin. 

The first record in Milford of a baptism of 
the Merwin name is : "August 21st, 1656, 
Samuel Merwin, sonne of Miles Merwin of Mil- 
ford." 

In the early Land Records of the Town of 
Milford, there are many pages closely written, 
on which the entries have no separate dates. 
The year is, in some cases, placed at the top of 
the page. 

One page is dated 1649, then for several pages 
there is no date, the next being 1669, a period 
of twenty years. 

About midway of these pages is the entry : 

"Miles Merwin hath given him by this Court 



II 



for his Encouragement to settle with the Town, 
ten acres of land, five acres being in Brick Kiln 
Swamp," 

The first entry of the Merwin name that I 
find with a definite date, is January 10th, 
1654. There was then a grant "by the Town 
of Milford to Tanner Miles Marwin of a lott 
next unto Ensign Bryan's Warehouse by the 
harbour's side, for to build and improve his 
trade thereon." 

Another "item" says, that Marwin's tan- 
works were a few rods west of Bryan's wharf. 

"Feb. 7th, 1657, the General Court granted 
six acres of land to Miles Marwin.'' 

"1657, Miles Marwin hath liberty to remove 
the gate and fence at the land, and to set it up 
again at the corner of the front of his lott, next 
the lott that is still in the Towne's hands, over- 
throwing that highway, and join it to Sam 
Coley's fence, which the said Miles Marwin 
undertakes to freely at his own cost, not only 
to remove, but to maintain it as his own for 
three years from that day, upon the condition 
that the Town will give him a little spot of 
marsh that lies with his lott which the Town or 
Court did grant him ; but how far his marsh 
should run into the harbour he knows not ; 
there is four rods by the house and eight by the 
other end." 



12 



Each planter kept up his proportion of the 
common fence, and carved the initials of his 
name on a stake at each end of his his own line. 

It must be remembered that all the dwelling 
houses in Milford, at this time, were within the 
palisade for protection from the Indians. These 
palisades were large posts ten or twelve feet 
high, set so closely that a man could not pass 
between them, ingress and egress being only- 
through the gates. Gates were made and kept 
in order by individuals, the use of more land 
being granted them for their trouble. Jona- 
than Baldwin had eighteen acres for the gate in 
Ferry Neck. 

The land enclosed by the palisade at Milford 
was nearly a mile square, and in 1656, a law 
was made that no Indian should, on any pretext, 
be allowed to remain within it over night. 

The Indians had a village at the place now 
called Burwell's Farms, and had been at times 
quite troublesome, especially so in the years 
1645, 1646 and 1653. 

At one time they had set the grass and woods 
surrounding the palisade on fire, and the settlers 
had serious trouble to save their homes from 
destruction. 

The land had been purchased from the Indi- 
ans, the price being six coats, ten blankets, one 
kettle, and a quantity of hoes, knives, hatchets 

13 



and small mirrors, but not all members of this 
Wepawaug tribe considered themselves bound 
by the transaction. 

The last deed given by the Indians of land in 
Milford was the twenty acres on the high bluff 
now known as Welch's Point. The price then 
paid was six coats, two blankets and three pairs 
of breeches. 

Thomas Welch, my great-great-great-great- 
great-grandfather afterwards bought it of the 
town for £21, 6 shillings, and it has ever since 
been called by his name, Welch's Point. 

''Town-Meeting, January 10th, 1659." 

"Ordered, that Miles Marwin have ten acres 
of land given him in the swamp about the 
Brick Kilns." 

(Evidently this was wooded, as others were 
allowed to draw wood from it, and ' 'if he do not 
improve it, it reverts to the town.") 

"General Court held at Milford, March 19th, 
1669-60. 

"Miles Marwin hath liberty to have the re- 
mainder of his land which the town granted 
him, next to John Brown's land on this side of 
it, in the Indian side." 

"General Court held in Milford, April 27, 
1660. 

' 'The town hath given liberty to John Stream 
and Miles Marwin to have the town line to run 

14 



on the outside of those Lotts, provided they 
bare the multiplication of fence, and also have 
the consent of the owners of that fence which 
lyeth against their land, and also that they be 
at the charge to remove the gates.'' 

"April 27, 1660, item. The town declared 
themselves by a vote that Miles Marwin shall 
have that piece of land for his own properties 
which he hath taken in with his meadow at 
Oyster meadow, provided that he pay rates for 
it according as it shall be sized by Thomas 
Wheeler and Stephen Freeman, for they are 
appointed by the town to size it. 

"/fern. Miles Marwin hath liberty to lay 
down his piece of land in the Indian side, and to 
take up so much beyond Sarg't Fowler's or any- 
where thereabout where he can find it." 

Jasper Gunn is chosen by the town to measure 
the lands. 

"1665. Miles Marwin is granted liberty to 
take up the land which was granted to Good- 
man Botts, by his own lott at sea-side, on the 
Indian side, convenient highways being re- 
served." 

All these are from the Milford proprietors, 
and not deeds from one man to another. 

In each case the name is spelled Marwin. 

Land which was otherwise unclaimed was di- 
vided among the early settlers at different 

15 



times. There was one division in 1645, another 
in 1646, a half division, whatever that may 
mean, in 1658 and the other half in 1660; 
another half division in 1676, the remaining 
half in 1679. One in 1686, when there were 129 
persons. The last one was in 1689. 

In a division about 1676, Miles Marwin has 
two shares. 

At a meeting of the General Court, January 
6, 1687, there had been some difference between 
Lieut. Samuel Burwell and Miles Marwin about 
the line between their lands near the Round 
Meadow, and a committee of six men were ap- 
pointed to adjust it. Their decision was ac- 
cepted by both parties, and was signed, ' 'In be- 
half of Father, I Thomas Marwin, am satisfied." 

After receiving these grants of land from the 
Proprietors, and having sold his lands in Wind- 
sor, and received all he could expect from his 
Aunt Abigail, Miles Marwin purchased a large 
tract of land on the shore of Long Island Sound, 
some of it comprising a part of what is now 
known as Pond Point, Merwin's Point, and 
Woodmont, extending across Oyster River into 
what is now the Town of Orange. 

Some of this land has ever since been, and 
still is, in the possession of his descendants, a 
period of more than two hundred years. 

In the meantime, the circumstances of Miles 

i6 



Merwin's relatives in Windsor has had greatly 
changed. 

Mr. John Branker, the husband of his Aunt 
Abigail, a gentleman of good education, had 
been the first school-master, and long continued 
in that office. 

February 1656-7 it was voted that Mr. 
Branker should have £5 paid to him out of the 
next town rate toward his maintenance of a 
school. 

In his office as ruling elder of the church, hav- 
ing been regularly and solemnly ordained, he 
occasionally delivered the weekly lecture in the 
absence of the minister, and it was his duty to 
visit and pray with the sick, and in the public 
congregation, to pray and expound the scrip- 
tures. 

He possessed considerable property, and dying 
May 29, 1662, he left it all by will to his widow, 
Abigail, who promptly married the minister, 
Rev. John Warham, at that time a widower. 

Mr. Warham moved into her house, which 
was repaired for their use, but it was later sold 
to Thomas Allyn, who had married Mr. War- 
ham's daughter Abigail. 

The minister had a salary besides the income 
of the grain mill; in 1650, he had one hundred 
pounds; in 1656, four score and ten pounds. 

In the year 1661, instead of a tax being laid, 

17 



his salary was paid by voluntary subscriptions, 
the smallest sum for the year being one shilling 
and sixpence; the largest, by Roger Ludlow, 
one pound, ten shillings. 

The "toll" at the mill at the same time was 
one-sixteenth or two quarts in a bushel for Eng- 
lish grain or malt grinding, and one twelfth for 
Indian corn. 

Rev. Mr. Warham died April 1, 1670, but he 
had previously conveyed this mill to his wife, 
and a few days before his death, March 19, he 
had signed a will leaving to her all the property 
which had been her own before her marriage to 

him. 

This was a necessary provision, for otherwise 
she would have had no real control of her own, 
though she had evidently used what power she 
had, for on April 11, 1670, eleven days after 
Mr. Warham's death, the record says: 

" At a meeting of Assize, permission is asked 
to provide for debts contracted in the sickness of 
both Mr. and Mrs. Warham. 

" The great expense that Mr. Warham's 
estate hath been at in mayntaning Mrs. War- 
ham in the time of her exercises and affliction, 
upwards of two years, and her wastful dis- 
posing of many things without his privity." 

Notwithstanding her "wastful disposing," 
there was considerable remaining, for his estate 



i8 



inventoried well for those times: £1239, 10 s., 
the homestead being appraised at £250, land in 
the Great Meadow £100, books £82, 4s. &c. 

Miles Merwin and his family, apparently Mrs. 
Warham's only relatives on this side of the 
ocean, had removed to Milford years before, but 
he visited his Aunt occasionally, and two of his 
children were her special favorites, one, Abigail, 
being her namesake, but she seems to have been 
offended by his leaving her in her old age. She 
had taken into her house to care for her after 
being left a widow, a family named Newberry, 
and they at her death came into possession of 
the house and furniture as their own. 

A daughter of this family married a Mr. 
Rowland, and the house built by him, and still 
called the Rowland house, is built upon the 
John Branker home lot. 

Mrs. Warham died in 1684, and although 
Miles Merwin was in Windsor on business in 
that year, it is not known whether he was with 
her at the time of her death; the family were in 
Milford. 

There seems to have been trouble and dis- 
agreement over Mrs. Warham's will. She 
made what is called by the lawyers a nuncupa- 
tive will, one not written, but made by word of 
mouth in the presence of witnessess, and this 



19 



was admitted by the Probate Court, and is now 
on record in Hartford. 

Miles Merwin claimed that her written will, 
written sometime before, should be the one 
admitted, and presented his petition to the 
General Assembly in March, 1685. 

To this petition this answer is recorded on 
page 190 of Colonial Records of Connecticut; 

"A General Court held at Hartford, October 
8, 1686. 

"Upon the petition of Miles Merwin, this 
Court having heard what hath been presented 
against the settlement of Mrs. Abigail War- 
ham's estate by the County Court, March 5, 
1685, and what hath been said for the confirma- 
tion thereof, doe see reason to settlement of the 
estate according as the Court of Assistants May 
last hath done." 

Although living at such a distance from 
Windsor, the first Miles Merwin seems to have 
displayed all the persistence in battling for 
what he considered his rights, that has been in 
later generations of the name, and in October 
of the same year, he presents another petition 

as follows: 

Copy of Petition 

Miles Merwin (Murwin) 

Priv. Controv. Vol. 3, 91. 

(State Library, State Capitol) 

To the Honorable General Assembly, now sit- 



20 



ting in Hartford, ye Humble Petition of Miles 
Murwin showeth: — 

That whereas, Mrs. Abigail Waram ( Ware- 
ham ) Late of Windsor, ( being hereby Relative 
to ye petitioner) Did make her last will and 
testament under her name and seal, And in ye 
said Will Did Apoynt ye petitioner sole executor 
to her said Will & Gave to ye petitioner a con- 
siderable Legacy, upon which ye petitioner 
Did appeare att ye County Court in Hartford in 

March last, 

obtained a probation of ye said will which was 
exhibited in said Court & two witnesses present 
ready to give oath yt they saw ye testator sign 
ye said will. But Capt. Daniel Clarke with 
some others made some objections against ye 
probation of said will by which means ye 
petitioner could not gaine a probation of said 
will. Your petitioner also delivered ye Wit- 
nesses to give oath to Mr. John Warams sign- 
ing of ye writing intended by him for his last 
will and testament ( but not accepted for such 
by ye County Court ) but could not obtain that 
either. 

But ye worshipfuU County Court proceeded to 
a distribution or settlement of some part ( at 
least ) of ye estate of ye said Mrs. Waram to the 
great dissatisfaction of your petitioner upon 
which ye petitioner Did apply himself to ye 



21 



Honored Court of Assistants in May last for 
Releef, but not obtaining ye Releef which was 
expected I have made bold to present this my 
complaints and petition to ye Honors for Eeleef 
Humbly craving yt I may have liberty granted 
for ye reading of that writing have references 
to ye matters which are in Court and then 
impartially to weigh my evidence and plead in 
equal scales of justice. And if they do not out 
weight all ye evidence and pleas of my adver- 
saries I shall willingly aquiess in what sentence 
shall proceed from ye Honors. I doe most 
humbly crave yt I may have but what Law and 
Justice Gives mee that I may not bee much 
overrun by ye power and policy of my adver- 
saries who I know to bee mutch advantaged in 
both but yet I Hope my Rituous cause will in 
part plead for it selfe. Soe Resting in Hopes I 
subscribe ye Honors in all Dutyfull submission. 
( Signed ) Miles Murwin, Senior. 

Oct. 12, 1685. 

This petition of Miles Merwin was also re- 
fused, and the will which was admitted, and 
which I have seen in the Probate Office at Hart- 
ford, is as follows : 

"We underwritten being present with Mrs. 
Warham who spent her last days in our family, 

22 



she discoursing with us respecting her estate, 
she declared that she had formerly given her 
Cousin Miles Merwin such a multitude, that if 
she had thousands she would not give him a 
penny. No, not a pinyis poynt She further 
said that things were so with her now in regard 
of her long sickness and expense thereupon, that 
she could not tell whether she had anything to 
give away. She also disowned that she had 
any will, and said further that her cousin, Miles 
Merwin, desired that she would make over her 
estate to him. and she manifested herself much 
troubled, and said she knew not but that she 
might live to need and expend it, and that she 
had before she dyed. 

Mary, the wife of Capt. Newberry, and Abi- 
gail, the daughter of the aforesaid, both affirm 
that Mrs. Warham sayd to them when she was 
of good understanding & sound memory con- 
cerning her estate, that if there was anything 
left when the Court had to consider thereoff, 
she had thought that little Miles Merwin should 
have somewhat, and the other that lived with 
her so long, & as for her moveables that were 
brought into her house. Return Strong, Mary 
Newberry and Abigail doe testify she freely 
gave them to us, and sayd they should not be 
taken from us. The above sayd was by her 



23 



declared to us sometime last March. September 

4, 1684. 

Benjamin Newberry- 
Mary M. Newberry's mark 
Abigail C Newberry's mark 
Return Strong" 

To this paper, the names of Miles Merwin's 
six older children only are appended, Elizabeth, 
John, Abigail, Thomas, Samuel and Miles, 
although ten must have been living at that time. 

The one "who lived with her so long", was 
the eldest daughter, Elizabeth. Abigail War- 
ham's estate inventoried one hundred and 
twenty-six pounds, fourteen shillings and six 
pence. 

The Probate Court, March 10, 1684-5, ordered 
the Administrators, Captain Newberry and 
Return Strong, to distribute: 

"To Miles Merwin, Jr., one third of the Estate: 

To Elizabeth two thirds of one third: 

To John, Thomas, Samuel and Abigail the 
remainder; Miles Junioi- to possess the Lands if 
he desire it, he paying his brothers and sisters as 
the Administrators may appoint." 

This inventory and distribution appear not to 
include the house and furniture which Captain 
Newberry claimed, but the children of Miles 
Merwin inherited all except that. Whether the 
appeal of their father made any real difference 

24 



in the final settlement of the estate is not 
known. 

The Merwin relatives were the only ones on 
this side of the ocean. 

It was in this year of 1684, that Miles Mer- 
win of Milford was a witness in the import- 
ant law-case of Whiting vs. Bissell in Windsor, 
testifying concerning his own purchase and sale 
of real estate there, and it was probably from 
his testimony at that time, that Savage in his 
Genealogy takes the dates which he gives thus : 

"Miles Merwin in 1684, calls himself 60 years 
old, but in 1692 says about 70. He died April 
23rd, 1697, aged about 74." 

Miles Merwin's first wife, Elizabeth Baldwin 
Canfield, the mother of his seven older children, 
John, Elizabeth, Thomas, Samuel, Miles, Daniel 
and Abigail, had died July 10, 1664. 

He soon married again, Sarah Piatt, daughter 
of Deacon Eichard Piatt, and widow of Thomas 
Beach. 

By her he had five children, Martha and 
Maria, twins born Jan. 23, 1665-6; Hannah, 
November 15, 1667 ; and Deborah and Daniel 
born April 24, 1670. 

At the birth of this second pair of twins, the 
mother died, and probably little Daniel also, as 
the baptism of Deborah only is recorded. "Giv- 
ing two sons in the family the same name, as 

25 



two here were named Daniel, though unusual, 
was not unknown later in the same family, per- 
haps in order that if one should die, a favorite 
name should not perish. 

After her death, Miles Merwin married again, 
taking for the third time a widow, Sarah, widow 
of Daniel Schofield. 

She had six children by her first husband, but 
none by Merwin. 

Realizing that he must now be near the close 
of his busy and eventful life, be began to plan 
for the suitable disposition of his large property. 

Besides his extensive farming operations, he 
had carried on the business of tanner and currier, 
and living on the seacoast, he became part owner 
of a sloop and two brigs, making voyages to the 
West Indies. 

His eldest son, John, who was settled on the 
homestead with him, continued this commerce, 
and John's s(m-in-law, John Collins, command- 
ing the ship Swan, sailed from Milford to the 
West Indies for sixteen years, until the Swan 
was finally lost at sea. 

Ship building was carried on in Milford Har- 
bor, on the eastern shore, across the bay from 
Miles Merwin's tannery. 

The tannery business he gave to the eldest 
son, John. John had married April 12, 1683, 

26 



the widow Mary Holbrook, and they, with their 
little family, had lived in the father's home. 

A deed dated June 4, 1695, gives to this "eld- 
est son John, for consideration of one hundred 
and fifty pounds, the house in which they now 
dwell together, with Barn, Tanhouse, Salthouse 
and Leantoes, Tan-yard, Malt-house and all 
tools and Implements that belong to the trade 
of a Tanner, also Homelott, Orchard, Gardens, 
Yards and Marsh." 

A deed dated May 17, 1695, gives to his son 
Samuel Merwin, a piece of land, the considera- 
tion being that Samuel shall pay his own eldest 
child ten pounds "as a Legacy from Mee." 

At the same date he deeds Samuel sundry 
parcels of land. 

The next year, March 9, 1686, he gives 
another deed of property to John. 

Previously to all these, he had made his will. 
Dated May 5, 1695, apparently writing it out 
himself, and remembering all of his many 
descendants. 

The item in this will, of fifteen Bibles for the 
fifteen grand children, seems to have been a 
common bequest in that century. 

The will of Deacon Richard Piatt, grandfather 
of six of Miles Merwin's children, dated 1683, 
bequeaths a Bible to each of the two younger 
ones, Hannah and Deborah Merwin, showing 

27 



that he had probably already given them to the 
older ones in his life time. 

This little girl of thirteen years, Deborah 
Merwin, who received the Bible from her grand- 
father Piatt, was my great-great-great-great- 
grandmother on my father's side. Her daughter, 
Mary Burwell, married Abner Newton and 
settled in Durham. 

Many of the descendants of the first Miles 
Merwin, by this daughter Deborah, bearing the 
name of Newton, are still living in Durham. 

Henry Gleason Newton, George Watson, 
Arthur Selden and Caroline Gaylord of the 
sixth generation from Miles Merwin; William, 
Frederic, Roger, Gaylord, Abner and Katharine 
of the seventh generation; Elmer and Stanley 
of the eighth. 

All these descendants of Miles Merwin have 
the surname of Newton. 

There is one little one, Elizabeth Mary, daugh- 
ter of Frederic Ailing and Harriet Camp New- 
ton, his wife, of the ninth generation. 

Henry Huntington Newton, of the sixth, for 
many years the eldest and moet honored head of 
this branch of the family, died October 6, 1907. 

There were besides, many descendants of 
those of this line who removed from Durham to 
Greenfield, Mass., about the year 1760, and to 
Hartford and Hartland, Conn., about 1780. 

28 




Roger Watson Newton 
Sixth generation, age 84 years 
Chari^ES Watson Newton, Eighth 

Katharine Huntington Newton, 
Roger Rossiter Newton " 




Home of Hrnrv Huntington Newton, Durham, Conn. 



Deborah Merwin's brother Miles was our an- 
cestor also, Deborah, in the line of my father, 
Gaylord Newton, and Miles in the line of my 
mother, Nancy Maria Merwin, by whom our 
family are counted in both the sixth and seventh 
generations. 



MILES MERWIN'S WILL. 

The last will and testament of Miles Merwin 
of Milford, Senr in ye county of New Haven in 
New England, made this 5th day of May in ye 
yeare of ye Lord Christ, 1695. 

I, Miles Merwin aforesaid, being in spirit & 
sound memory, & understanding, although 
under some infirmity of body. Doe heare make 
this my last will & testament in manner & 
forme as followeth : 

First, I give & bequeath my soule into the 
hands of God through Jesus Christ who gave it, 
and my body to a Devout & Christian Buriall. 

Imprimis, I give to my dearly beloved wife, 
Sarah Merwin, ten pounds a year during her 
widowhood. Also, I give the house and ye 
improvement of my Parlor & ye Leantoe, with 
what room she needeth in ye Cellar in what 
part she pleaseth, so long as she shall see cause 
to live in my house in her widowhood. Item, 
I give to my loving wife for her use while she 

29 



liveth in my house the use or power to com- 
mand for her use in ye house two beds wth all 
their furniture .... in both for summer 
and winter, wth bed linen shee needeth for her 
comfort she shall have. Also she shall have 
power to command for her use ye oven in my 
other roome wth potts, kettles, skillets, pot- 
hangers, pails, wooden-ware of wht sort soever. 
And what earthen ware she needeth for her use. 

Also for her use I give her her choice of my 
spinning wheels & power to command one or 
more when she needeth. 

Also I give to my sd wife Cider enough to fill 
two barrells & ten bushells of apples yearly if 
my orchard at home yield so much ; & if it 
prove a plentiful year at any time, then she 
shall have cider enough to fill three barrels, she 
finding barrels for ye whole, besides ye ten 
bushells of apples yearly. Also I give her ye 
use and benefit of one cow wh cow is to be main- 
tained winter and summer by my executors. 

All wh gifts and legacies be to her only dur- 
ing her widowhood. And if she see good to 
remove herself for some time, she shall have 
liberty to come again to my house when she 
pleaseth ; but if she changeth her condition by 
marriage, then all the aforesaid guifts and leg- 
acies to cease, that is all which is above ex- 
pressed. 

30 




Kathakink Huntington Newton 

Roger Rossiter Newton 

Eighth in descent from Miles Merwin 

Page 28 



And my executor shall pay unto my wife ye 
full sum of forty shillings a year during her 
natural life, which I will and bequeath unto her. 

Item. I give unto my grandchildren: namely 
ye children of Sarah Pottet wch she had by John 
Pottet of Stamford, and to soe many of them as 
shall be living after my decease, the sum of 
twenty shillings apiece. 

Item. I give to John Scofell of Stamford 
three pounds and ten shillings. 

Item. I give to Mary Camp, wife of Samuel 
Camp of Milford, three pounds and ten shillings. 
Furthor my will is yt my wife shall have ye 
Dispose of ten pounds of my estate at her de- 
cease. 

Item. My will is that those of my Children 
y t have not received their whole portion already, 
yt is to say John two hundred pounds, Thomas 
one hundred pounds, Samuel one hundred 
pounds, Miles one hundred pounds, with Com- 
pleating what is wanting to making ye just 
sum of fifty pounds to all and every of my own 
natural daughters, soe much as all or any of my 
children want of their portion, what any son 
wanteth of his hundred pounds as above ex- 
pressed, and what any of my daughters want of 
their fifty pounds, shall be first paid by my 
executor after my decease. 

Item. I give to my ten grandchildren one 

31 



hundred pounds: what is not ah*eady payd or 
paid by me while I live, shall be payd by my 
executor when they come of age : to ye eldest ye 
child of each family of my children's, it shall be 
payd, be they male or female. 

Item. My will is, I give to all and every of 
my Grandchildren that shall be living at my 
decease One bible to be procured & delivered to 
all and every of them by my executor after my 
decease, as soone as may be with conveniency. 

Item. My will is yt ye land I had of Nathll 
Farran, I say I will give it to my son John, his 
eldest child, to pay ye ten pound Legacy above 
mentioned to my Grandchild of ye house. 

Item. My will is, my debts and Legacies 
being paid, yt ye Remainder of the estate shall 
be equally divided amongst all my natural 
children then living. 

If any of my sons dye, ye family of ye de- 
ceased shall have their part, ye full of it. And 
if any of my daughters dye, there shall be no 
part of yt Dividable to ye house. 

Item. My will is that my debts and Legacies 
be paid by my Executors. 

Item. My will is, & I do nominate and 
appoint my two sons John Marwin & Miles Mar- 
win to be my Executors of this my last will & 
testament. And further, if these Refuse or are 

32 



desabled, then ye full power to Execute shall be 
with the other. 

And I do declare this is my will of all I have 
ordered to be paid for my deare wife, as is 
before expressed, the Burthen of it shall not be 
upon any one of my children, but it shall be 
borne by, and paid out of my estate by my 
Executors. 

Item. My will is, & I heere declare it, yt if 
my son John Merwin shall have occasion for one 
hundred pounds stock for carying on his trade 
of farming, he shall have it out of my estate as 
be with him to be paid cash within six years 
after my decease by my sd son John His heires 
or Assignes as this my will directs. 

Signed, sealed, and declared by Miles Mer- 
win, Senr. to be his last will & testament in 
the presence of us. 

Miles Merwin ( Seale ) 
Alex Bryan, 
Josiah Plat, ) 

Edward Nilkison ) these 2 sworn in Court June 1697. 

The names of ten children and fifteen grand- 
children were written on the will in the Probate 
Office, as was the custom. 

The children were all living at the time of his 



33 



death in 169Y, except the two who were called 
Daniel, and all the daughters were married. 



These are the names: 
John Merwin, 
Thomas Merwin, 
Samuel Merwin, 
Elizabeth (Canfield), 
Abigail (Scoffeild), 
Martha (Prime), 
Mary (Hull), 
Hannah (Holbrook), 
Deborah (Burwell), 
(Miles Merwin), 



Grandchildren : 
John Merwin, 
Thomas, 
Sarah, 
Elizabeth, 
Abigail Canfield, 
Daniel Scoffeild, 
James Prime, 
Mary Hull, 
Richard Holbrook, 
Sarah Burwell, 
John Scoffeild, 
Mary Camp, 
John Pettit, 
Bethia Pettit, 
Mercy Beard. 

John and Miles Merwin were sworn as execu- 
tors in July, 1697. 

The inventory of his possessions is dated May 
12, 1697. The total was only £463, lis, lid. 

A few items from the inventory give some 
idea of the prices of certain articles : 

Wearing apparel . 

Buckles, etc. 

Sheets, pillow-beers, etc. 

One holland sheet, an old one, a 

feather bed, with curtains, 

blankets and coverlids 
Spoons, earthenware, woodenware 

34 



£ 


s. 


d. 


30 





6 


2 


8 





40 





6 


17 








7 


19 


3 



Miles Merwin's widow, Sarah Scofield Mer- 
win, did not long survive him to enjoy her 
"potts and panns," her apples and cider, and 
her ten pounds a year. 

She died in less than a year from the date of 
his death, March 6, 1698. 

An inventory of her estate was made and pre- 
served by the same men who had inventoried 
her husband's, Timothy Baldwin and John 
Smith, and it was sworn to before Richard Treat, 
Deputy Governor, June 16, 1698. 

Here is part of it : 

One bedding with silk grass 

Oaps .... 

Silk Caps . 

2 Silk Hoods 

Handkerchiefs . 

Two special handkerchiefs 

Pr. bodkins and stays 

Gloves 

One manchester 

Two famars 

One safeguard . 

New chest and lock . 

One half thousand of pins 

"Waistcoats," aprons, stockings and petti- 
coats, red and blue ones especially mentioned, 



£ 


s. 


d 


1 


9 





4 


2 







8 







18 





1 


8 







5 







5 







3 







2 





2 


5 







16 







13 







2 






35 



were almost innumerable, the total amounting' 
to £55, 19s. 3d. 

Nathan G. Pond, in his pamphlet entitled "Ye 
Story of ye Memorial," that is, the story of the 
Milford Bridge, speaks of "a most interesting 
deed of entail made by Miles Merwin." 

It would appear that Miles Merwin had no 
particular idea of founding a family to be called 
by his name, in the new world, according to the 
customs of Old England whence he came, and 
which he remembered, until the birth of his 
fourth son. 

The first three had been named John, Thomas 
and Samuel, but when the fourth came, Dec. 
14, 1658, he gave him his own name, and later 
gave him a deed of the best portion of his prop- 
erty, providing that it should always be inher- 
ited by the eldest son of the eldest son. 

This deed was probably written by himself, 
two years before his death, and is curious for 
its exceedingly careful provisions. 

"This Indenture, made the thirteenth day 
of May, in the year of our Lord God one thou- 
sand, six hundred ninety and five, between 
Miles Merwin, Sen'r Taner, of the one party, 
and Miles Merwin, Jun'r., of the other partie, 
both parties belonging to Milford in the County 
of New Haven in the Colony of Connecticut in 
New England witnesseth that the said Miles 

36 



Merwin, Sen'r, for and in consideration of the 
conditions which hereafter in and by those pres- 
ents reserved and contained which on the part 
and behalf of the said Miles Merwin, Jun'r. , are 
and ought to be paid, done and performed, full- 
filled and kept, hath given, granted, bargained, 
sold, alienated, Enfeoffed and Confirmed, and by 
this his present deed doth grant, bargain, sell, 
alien, enfeoffe unto his said son. Miles Merwin, 
Jun'r. , a certain parcell or tract of land, being 
all and every part of that his farm commonly 
called and known by the name of Merwin's 
farm, situate lying and being within the bounds 
of Mil ford afforesaid at a place called the Indian 
side according to the limits bounds and extends 
thereof as may fully and plainly appear by the 
Records of Milford afforesaid as it belonged or 
ought to belong to the afiforenamed Miles Mer- 
win, Sen'r.,Together with all Buildings, Edifices, 
Courtlages, gardens, Hontyards (courtyards?), 
Lands, Meadows, Pastures, Woods, Underwoods, 
Wasts, Wayes, Waters, Water-courses, ease- 
ments, Proffitts, Privilidges, Appurtenances 
and Advantages whatsoever thereon being, 
thereunto belonging or thence arising by any 
manner of way or means whatsoever, as also 
two Oxen, five cows, and three other brooding 
Cattell, one Horse and one brooding mare and 
fourty sheep upon said farm together with the 



37 



Carts, Ploughs, Chains, tackling and all other 
Tools and Implements belonging to the said 
farm to Have and to Hold the said farm with 
all the buildings and Edifices, Cattell, Stock, 
Carts, Ploughs, Implements and all the singular 

the Premises with their and 
every of their Appurtenances before by these 
presents bargained and sold or meant men- 
tioned or intended to be hereby granted, 
bargained and sold, and every part and parcell 
thereof from and after the decease of him 
the said Miles Merwin Sen'r., unto the said 
Miles Merwin, Jun'r., to the use and behoof of 
the said Miles Merwin, Jun'r., for the term of 
his natural life, and from and after his decease 
to the use and behoof of the First Son of the said 
Miles Merwin Jun'r of his body lawfully to be 
begotten and for default of such issue to the 
use and behoof of all and every other son and 
sons of the body of the said Miles Merwin Jun'r 
begotten or to be begotten one after another as 
they shall be in senority of age and priority of 
birth, and of the heirs of the body of every of the 
same sons respectively to be begotten, the elder 
of the said sons and the heirs being always pre- 
ferred before the younger and the heirs of their 
bodies. And for default of such issue to the 
use and behoof of Thomas Merwin, Son to the 
said Miles Merwin, Sen'r, and of the heirs males 
of the body of such First Son Lawfully to be be- 

38 




Charles Newton. 



gotten, and for default of such issue, to the use 
and behoof of all and every other Son and Sons 
of the body of the said Thomas Merwin, Lawfully 
begotten or to be begotten, one after another, 
as they shall be in Senority of age and priority 
of birth, and of the heirs of the body of every 
of the same sons respectively — the Elder of the 
said Sons and the heirs of his body being all- 
ways preferred before the younger and the heirs 
of their bodies. 

And for default of such issue to the use and 
behoof of the First Son of Samuel Merwin, son to 
the said Miles Merwin, Sen'r., and of the Heirs 
Males of the body of such First Son — lawfully to 
be begotten, and for default of such issue to the 
use and behoof of all and every other son and 
sons of the body of the said Samuel Merwin 
lawfully begotten or to be begotten one after 
another as they shall be in senority of age and 
priority of birth and of the body of every of the 
same sons respectively, the Elder of the said 
sons and the heirs of his body being allways 
preferred before the younger and the heirs of 
their bodies; and for default of such issue then 
to the use and behoof of the right heirs of the 
said Miles Merwin, Jun'r, forever. And the 
said Miles Merwin, Sen'r., for himself, his heirs, 
Executors and Administrators doth covenant 
promise and Grant to and with his said son 

39 



Miles Merwin, Jr., and said heirs by these 
presents that all the said farm Buildings and 
Premises and every part and parcell thereof with 
the Appurtenances now are and be and soe from 
time to time and at all times hereafter forever, 
shall or may remain and continue to the several 
respective uses before herein mentioned limited 
and declared according to the intent and mean- 
ing hereof freely cleared and discharged of and 
from all former and other bargains, Sales, gifts, 
leases, mortgages, troubles and incumbrances 
whatsoever, had, made, committed or done by 
him the said Miles Merwin, Senior, or any other 
Person or Persons lawfully claiming or to claim 
from, by or under him. Upon the condition 
following, that is to say, that the said Miles 
Merwin, Junior, or the heirs, as afore mentioned, 
shall well and duly pay, or cause to be paid, the 
full and Just summe of five hundred pounds, 
that is to say, twenty- five pounds a year till the 
full end and term of twenty years from and 
after the time of the decease of the said Miles 
Merwin, Senior, be fully completed and ended. 
In such pay as shall yearly be raised or pro- 
duced off the said farm (Sider only excepted), to 
be paid at prices current between man and man, 
to all the children of the said Miles Merwin, 
Senior, (his Eldest Son John Merwin only ex- 
cepted), equally to be divided among them, the 

40 





Chari^ks Watson Newton 
Eighth generation 



said Miles Merwin, Junior, being one of them 
to have his share, and if any of the said Miles 
Merwin, Senior, his Sons dye before the receipts 
of such payments, then such payments shall be 
yearly made and paid during the whole time 
aforesaid to the children of such sons deceasing 
equally to be divided among them, but in case 
any of the said Miles Merwin, Senior, his daugh- 
ters dye before the time of such yearly pay- 
ments, then the said payments shall cease as to 
them and their children. Such daughters so 
deceasing before the time of such payments be 
due, their children shall not have any benefitt 
or share of the same. And it is covenanted 
granted and agreed by and between the said 
parties to these presents, and the said Miles 
Merwin, Senior, doth covenant, grant and agree 
to and with his said Son, Miles Merwin, Junior, 
and the Heirs as aforesaid that if it should so 
happen in any of the years of payment as above 
said that there should be extraordinary loss in 
Crops or Stocks on said Farm, that then the said 
Miles Merwin, Junior, or the heirs as aforesaid 
shall not be compelled to pay the said yearly 
payment in such a year wherein he or they have 
suffered such losses, but shall have further time 
to pay it in. 

In Witness Whereof the said Miles Merwin 
Senior to these presents hath sett to his hand 



41 



and seal the day and year first above written in 
the seventh year of his Majesties Reign William 
the Third, King of England, Scotland, France 
and Ireland, Defender of the Faith. 

Not that notwithstanding what is above men- 
tioned the said Miles Merwin Senior reserves 
liberty to himself if he shall by Providence be 
reduced to a low state, to sell part or all of the 
fore mentioned farm for his subsistence which 
his said Son Miles Merwin Junior or one of his 
male children shall have the first refusal of, 
and deduction in such case to be made out of 
the above said five hundred pounds, according 
to the price that any part of the said farm shall 
be sold for ; this notation being entered before 
signing and sealing. 

Miles Merwin (Seal) 

Signed, sealed and delivered 
in the presence of 

Bartha : Langstaffe, 
Joseph Hollingworth, 
Stephen Mieles. 

This deed was acknowledged by the above writ- 
ten Miles Merwin, Senior the sixth day of June 
Ano Dom 1695 to be his act and deed before me 
Recorded July the 
8th, 1695. 

J. S. Bryan, Reg'r Alex Bryan, Commissioner. 



42 







265 

Tombstone in the Mii.ford Cemetery 

of Miles Merwiii, who died April 23d, 1697 

aged 74 years 



John Merwin, the eldest son, remained in'the 
home of their father, carrying on the same 
business of the tannery besides trading to the 
West Indies. 

He married Mary, daughter of Thomas 
Welch, and widow of Isaac Holbrook, April 2, 
1683. 

Miles also married a widow, Hannah Wilmot, 
widow of Samuel Miles, September 26, 1681. 

In those days of the settlement of different 
parts of New England, and the Indian wars, 
almost every woman appears to have been left a 
widow once or twice at least. The three mar- 
riages of the first Miles were all to widows. 

This Miles of the second generation with his 
wife, Hannah, settled on the entailed estate 
given him by his father. 

Their only daughter, Elizabeth, was born 
January 10, 1683. She married a son of Gov- 
ernor Robert Treat, but died young, leaving 
two little children. 

Miles Merwin ^ and Hannah Wilmot had 
two sons. Miles and Daniel; Miles, the first born 
son, being the heir, according to the deed of 
entail. 

This Miles, the second generation, born 1658, 

made his will, bequeathing as much of his. 
property as he had power over, Oct. 21, 1721. 

He had evidently a firm faith in the literal 
resurrection of the body, for the first provision is: 

43 



"I desire my body to have a decent burial, I 
believing that I shall receive it again." 

He left one hundred pounds to be divided 
equally between the children of his daughter, 
Elizabeth Treat, lately deceased. 

He gave Daniel one good young cow besides 
what he had already given him in real or per- 
sonal estate, but the house and land he could 
not give, it belonged to his son Miles. 

In the time of a later Miles, this house had a 
trying experience. It was plundered, but not 
destroyed, by the British troops, when they 
landed in Milford in 1779. 

Lambert's History says : 

"Twenty British ships lay off Milford 
a number of days, the inhabitants hourly 
expecting an attack, but only a few 
landed at Pond Point, and plundered 
one house, that of Mr. Miles Merwin. 
The house was closed at the time, the 
family having gone into the town." 

Milford had already seen much of the dread- 
fulness of war, before the slight matter of the 
plundering of the Merwin homestead. 

In January, 1777, a vessel bearing a flag of 
truce arrived at Milford Harbor, having on 
board two hundred Americans who had been 
prisoners of the British on their ships at New 
York. 

44 




Henry Huntington Newton 

1S41-1907 

Seventh in descent fi'om 

Miles Merwin 

Eiehth from Richard Piatt 




Caroline Gaylord Newton 
Seventh by her father 
Eighth by her mother 



They were perishing with starvation, cold 
and disease; twenty had died on board the ship, 
coming up the sound, in the bitter winter 
weather. 

The residents of Milford and surrounding 
towns came to care for them, but within a 
month, forty-six more had died, and were 
buried in one grave, in the south part of the 
Milford grave-yard. A tall brown stone monu- 
ment inscribed with the forty-six names, marks 
the spot where they lie. 

This was the time when my great-grand- 
father, Elisha Fairchild, drove his team of 
horses down from Middletown, to take some of 
those helpless ones back to their homes. 

They were suffering with the small-pox; he 
contracted the disease from them, and died 
within a month, a real martyr of the Eevolu- 
tion, though not dying in battle. 

He had been a soldier in the French and 
Indian War, coming through that unharmed. 

He left a widow and five little children, one 
of whom, Abigail, became the wife of Abner 
Newton, my grandfather. 

One of those for whom he thus give his life, 
was William Butler. Butler received a pension, 
living to a good old age, but the young widow 
and children of Elisha Fairchild were given no 
pension. 



45 



Returning from this digression to the third 
generation of Merwins, Daniel, second son of 
the second Miles, born in 1691, when 

he arrived at man's estate, saw his elder brother 
John settled in the family homestead, and his 
younger brother Miles ^ on the land which was 
to be his and his son's forever. 

The Merwins of those early generations 
seemed always ready to settle in a new place, a 
trait not entirely unknown in those of later 

years. 

Miles, the first, had several times taken the 
journey between Milford and Windsor, and at 
the time of his death, little Daniel, his grand- 
son, a child of six years, and living near, had 
probably often heard stories of these journeys, 
which might have been through what was after- 
wards known as Durham. 

No white man had settled there, and the spot 
was not much frequented by the Indians, though 
well-known to them as a hunting ground. 

There was a cleared field on the farm now 
known as the Gaylord Newton Farm, which has 
always been called "The Old Field," as the only 
place in that neighborhood where the Indians 
cultivated corn. 

Whether or not little Daniel heard of the 
place from his grandfather, he certainly heard 
about it, as he grew to manhood, for most of 

46 




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the settlers in the new town came from Milford. 
The first house in Durham was built in 1699, 
and the number of settlers increased until a 
patent was granted to the Town of Durham, 
May 21, 1708. This original patent now hangs 
in the Town Library in Durham. 

The inhabitants, though few in number, be- 
lieved in the independence of the people, and 
held a town-meeting December 24, 1706. 

At this town-meeting before there was a 
town, four of our ancestors were elected to ofHce: 
Nathaniel Sutliff, Constable ; Samuel Fairchild, 
Selectman ; Joel Parmelee, Fence Viewer, and 
Robert Coe, Lister, or Assessor. 

At the same meeting it was voted that they 
desired the town of Durham should be annexed 
to the County of New Haven. 

The early name of this tract of land was 
Coginchaug, though spelled in many different 
ways. The old deed held by the Merwin family 
dated 1687 reads : "a piece of land in a place 
called Cogonshake;" and for the record, it is 
marked on the outside "a deed of Cockingcheg. " 
This was the Indian name signifying Long 
Swamp. 

In 1704, the name was changed to Durham 
by the Act of the General Assembly, though it 
was not then a town. 



47 



The main street was originally planned in the 
southern part, on a hill which is still known by 
the name of Meeting-house Hill, but before any 
building of importance was erected, it was 
changed to its present location, most of the land 
on this ridge between two valleys, now com- 
prising the village, being then in the possession 
of the Talcott family of Hartford. 

"Ye Worshipful Mr. John Talcott" was one 
of the first settlers in Hartford, having a house 
built for him in 1635 on the corner of Main and 
Talcott Streets, and moving into it with his 
family in 1636. 

His son. Lieutenant Colonel John Talcott, our 
great, great, great, great-grandfather, was a 
famous fighter in the Indian wars, and had 
this Durham land granted to him for his ser- 
vices. 

He was one of three men appointed to have 
charge of the Charter of the State granted by 
King Charles II, in 1662. 

Roger Wolcott is authority for the statement 
that when the Charter was hidden in the oak 
October 1, 1687, this Lieut. Col. John Talcott 
secured it from the table, when the lights were 
extinguished, as he might lawfully do, having 
been appointed to keep it in charge. The Record 
reads : 

"Oct. 9, 1662. The Pattent or charter was 

48 



this day publiquely read in audience of ye free- 
men, and ye freemen made choice of Mr. Willys, 
Col. John Talcott and Lieut. John Allyn to 
take the Charter into their custody, in behalf of 
ye freemen." 

Lieut. Col. John Talcott died in the year 
1688, and his youngest son Hezekiah, then a 
little child two years old, inherited a part of 
the Durham land. 

The second wife of Lieut. Col. John Talcott, 
and the mother of Hezekiah, was Mary Cook, 
possibly daughter of Major Aaron Cooke, Senior' 
whose will dated August, 1690, bequeaths to 
his "Grandson, Aaron Cooke, son of my son 
Aaron, a parcell of land being three hundred 
acres lyeing between Middletown and Walling- 
ford, being in ye Colony of Connecticut, for- 
merly granted to Major Nash of New Haven by 
ye general Corte, and soe by deed to me." 

It is more probable that this Mary Cook, 
mother of Hezekiah Talcott, was the daughter 
of Jacob Cook who came as a child with his 
mother to this country in the ship Ann in 1623. 
His father Francis, and his brother John, 
came in 1620 in the Mayflower, the mother and 
younger children coming three years later. John 
and Jacob had each a daughter named Mary, 
born at nearly the same time, the daughter of 
John marrying a man named Thompson, the 



49 



other Mary probably becoming the second wife 
of Colonel John Talcott, and mother of Hezekiah, 
whose daughter, Mary Talcott, married Miles 
Merwin in 1743, thus making all of the Merwin 
family of Durham, Mayflower Descendants. 

John Talcott', though holding his land from 
the General Assembly, joined in purchasing it 
from the Indians also. 

In the Records of the General Assembly is 
the following entry, dated May 13, 1703. 

"This Assembly doth empower the 
guardian of Mr. Hezekiah Talcott to 
sell a convenient number of lotts out of 
the said Hezekiah's land at the place 
called Cokinchauge, to accommodate 
the inhabitants there with a convenient 
place for a town platt, according to the 
proportion due from the said Hezekiah, 
for settling the said towne." 

In the original plan of the town, dated 1704, 
which I have seen in the immense safe in the 
Capitol at Hartford, and of which I have a copy, 
the land marked as belonging to Hezekiah Tal- 
cott, extended the whole length of Main Street, 
from the old tavern, which was first kept by 
Samuel Weld, and later by John Swathel, to 
south of the green, a full mile in extent. 

In the Town Patent granted by Governor 
Saltonstall, May 21, 1708, the name of Hezekiah 

50 



niddletown 



Flan of Bvf^HAM 

in October 




Talcott is the first of the seven Patentees whose 
names are given. 

The thirty-four men who were residing in 
Durham at that time, were called the Patentees 
or Proprietors, and I consider it an honor that I 
am descended from six of the thirty-four; Joel 
Parmelee, Samuel Fairchild, Nathaniel Sutliff, 
James Curtiss, Hezekiah Talcott and Robert 
Coe. 

These Proprietors continued to hold their own 
business meetings distinct from town-meetings 
for many years, admitting others to their privi- 
leges by vote among themselves. 

There is a deed dated Feb. 1st 1703-4 from 
"John Permele, husbandman, to my brother 
Joell Permelee, of all my right of a Part of a 
two-hundred acre farme that I bought of Abra- 
ham bradley of S^^ Guilford at a place com- 
monly called Cauchinchag, neare Middletown, 
containing 65 acres more or less." 

A part of the land belonging to Hezekiah 
Talcott was given without price, to encourage 
settlement in the new town, as was the custom 
throughout New England. 

In May, 1701, land was distributed by lot in 
allotments of thirty acres each, to twenty-three 
different persons, among whom the following 
were our ancestors or relatives: 

Joel Permele, John Permele, John Sutliff, 

51 



Nathaniel Sutliff, Samuel Camp, Joseph Coe, 
and others. 

In the early Land Records, very many pages 
are filled with copies of deeds from Hezekiah 
Talcott, but not the very earliest, as he was not 
then of age. 

March 28, 1707 there was recorded a deed 
from Hezekiah Tallcot and Eunice Tallcot of 
Hartford to James Wadsworth of Farmington, 
acknowledged before Joseph Tallcot, Justice of 
ye peace. 

May 6, 1708, a deed of land to Saml. Camp, 
Senior, and on the same date, one to Benjamin 
Baldwin from Hezekiah Talcott. 

March 28, 1710-11, Joseph Talcot gave a deed 
of his share of 562 acres inherited from his 
father. Colonel John Tallcot, deceased, to his 
brother, Hezekiah Tallcot. 

Hezekiah's home was near the place where 
now stands the house of Mrs. ]\lary Gatzmer. 

In the year 1721, it was to this young town of 
Durham, that Daniel Merwin, of the third 
generation, with his wife, Sarah Botchford 
and their five little children removed, followed 
later by his cousin Mary Burwell and her hus- 
band, Abner Newton, and other families from 
Milford. 

Both Merwin and Newton settled on the Main 
Street, Merwin purchasing the house which is 

52 





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now occupied by William C. Hubbard, and 
Abner Newton purchasing the Mill-pond prop- 
erty, and several acres north of it with two 
houses, the places now owned by W. R. Atwell 
and Frank Barton. 

Daniel Merwin had married, November 30, 
1710, Sarah Botsford, Daughter of Elnathan 
Botsford. Their children were: 

Ann, Born November 20, 1712 

Daniel, " September 15, ni4 

Ann, " March 24, 1715-16 

Sarah,, " June 10, 1718 

Miles, " November 29, 1719 

D. Miles " March 27, 1721 

Elizabeth " February 14, 1722-3 

Daniel Merwin became prominent in the 

affairs of the new town, and is called Honorable 

Daniel Merwin in the records, a prefix not given 

in those early days without good reason. 

He made large purchases of land, some ex- 
tending beyond the bounds of Durham into 
Middletown, a part of which is now covered by 
the Middlefield Reservoir, and westward to the 
Wallingford bounds. 

"April 13, 1721, Daniel Merwin of 
Milford, purchased of Nathan Camp of 
Durham, a dwelling house, barn, and 
home-lottof six acres for £100. bounded 
eastwardly, westwardly, and northerly 

53 



by highway, and southwardly by Sam- 
uel Norton's home-lott." 

This is the house owned by William Hubbard, 
and shows that the road running between Wil- 
liam Scranton's and Herbert Southmayd's then 
extended through to Brick Lane, as it was laid 
out on the first plan of the Town. 

Daniel Merwin, and his son Miles and grand- 
son Job, each in succession with his family, 
lived and died in that house. It has been very 
much altered and improved since their time. 

Nathan Camp, who was the original owner, 
was also our ancestor. 

Dec. 5, 1721. John Camp, Jr., of Milford, 
sold to Daniel Merwin of Durham, 31 acres for 
X140. 

Dec. 19, 1721. Robert Coe of Durham, sold 
to Daniel Merwin of Durham, ten acres west of 
the swamp, north of the Wallingford road for 
£40. 

Sept. 10, 1722. Isaac Chauncey and Nathaniel 
Chauncey sold to Daniel Merwin 65 acres for 
X180. 

One hundred acres of land purchased at this 
time by Daniel Merwin was a part of the tract 
given by the General Court to Major John Nash 
of New Haven, and sold by his heirs to Major 
Aaron Cook of Northampton, Mass. This 
original deed, dated October 27, 1687, and also 

54 




Graves in Durham Cemetery of Daniel Merwin :^ his son. Lieut. Miles Merwin ^, 

and trrandson, Miles ^Nlerwin 5- 



the original deed to Daniel Merwin, are now iu 
the possession of the children of Miles Talcott 
Merwin in Durham. 

It was long before the boundary line was 
exactly settled between Middletown and Durham, 
and Daniel Merwin had much to do in its final 
location, the papers concerning it still remaining 
in the family. 

In 1733, the town voted that it was needful to 
build a new meeting-house, and Sergeant Daniel 
Merwin and others were appointed ' ' to consider 
the heighth, length, bredth and dementions of 
the meeting-house, and discourse the best and 
most able carpenters." 

This second meeting-house was raised in May, 
1736, and was still unfinished in November, 
when a tax of twelve pence per pound was laid 
to finish it, with Daniel Merwin, Collector. 

When the town voted to build this meeting- 
house, in 1733, the appropriation for a "skoole" 
was reduced from £6 to £3 for the j^ear. 

Daniel Merwin died April 17, 1766, in his 79th 
year. His wife, Sarah Botchford, died Septem- 
ber 23, 1764, eighty-two years old, and their 
grave-stones, large, handsome brown sandstone, 
are on the summit of the hill in the old burying 
ground with those of their children and grand- 
children. 



55 



Their eldest son, Daniel, was born in Milford, 
and was a boy eight years old when the family 
moved to Durham. 

He married December 20, 1738, Elizabeth 
Wells of Haddam. Their little son James was 
born October 19, and ten days later, Oct. 29 the 
young wife died. 

May 11, 1741, Daniel was married again to 
Mary Burrett and by her he had seven children, 
Elizabeth, Ehnathan, Sarah, Daniel, Ann, 
Israel and Hannah. 

This Daniel Merwin, Junr. was one of the 
subscribers to "The Book Company of Durham," 
which was formed October 30, 1733, and said to 
be the first Public Library in the Colony or 
State of Connecticut. 

He died May 15, 1758. 

Slavery was in existence in Durham then, as 
it was in all the towns of the state, and his 
widow sold at least one slave, in settling his es- 
tate the year after his death. 

The bill of sale I copy from Fowler's History 
of Durham. 



56 



Durham, June 19, 1759. 
Know all men by this present: that I the sub- 
scriber, widow Mary Merwin, Executrix of the 
last will of Daniel Merwin, Junr., do sell, alien 
and convey and confirm unto Elnathan Chaun- 
cey of Durham in the County of New Haven, to 
him and his heirs, one certain negro man, about 
30 years of age named Ginne, for and during 
his natural life, it being for the consideration of 
13 pounds already received to my full satisfac- 
tion, in witness hereof I set my hand and seal, 
this 19th of June in the year of our Lord 1759. 
In presence of Mary Merwin. 

James Tibbals, 
Abner Newton. 



57 



Miles Merwin of the fourth generation, second 
son of Miles and Sarah Botsford, born Nov. 29, 
1719, was a child not quite three years old at 
the time of the removal from Milford to Dur- 
ham. 

The explanation of the name given to the 
third son, a baby one year old at this time, of D. 
Miles, seems to be the fear that either Daniel or 
Miles might die, as so large a number of little 
children did die in the early settlement of the 
country, and the desire that the little one might 
continue the name of either. 

Miles was a young man of twenty when the 
first military company was organized in Dur- 
ham in 1739. 

James Wadsworth, born in Farmington, but 
one of the very early settlers in Durham, was 
made Colonel of the Tenth Connecticut Regi- 
ment of Militia, and the cartridge-box and ac- 
coutrements now in the possession of the heirs 
of Miles Talcott Merwin, marked '■^Ilnd Coni'y. 
Xth Meg.''' seem proof that it was the one carried 
by Lieutenant Miles Merwin, under the com- 
mand of Colonel Wadsworth. 

His sword also is treasured by us, his descend- 
ants, as being undoubtedly the one carried by 
him in the French and Indian War, and also in 
the War of the Revolution. 



58 



In the Colonial Records of Connecticut, on 
page 70, Vol. II, is the record of an Act of the 
General Assembly in Hartford, May, 1757: 

"This Assembly do establish Mr. Miles Mer- 
win to be cornet of the troop of horse in the 
Tenth Regiment in this Colony", the cornet of a 
company being the officer who carried the stand- 
ard in a company or troop of horse, the second 
officer in the Company. 

Seven years later, May 1764, page 255, Vol. 
XIII of the Colonial Records reads: 

' 'This Assembly do establish Mr. Miles Mer- 
win to be Lieutenant of the Troop of Horse in 
the Tenth Regiment in This Colony." 

This Tenth Regiment of Connecticut Militia 
continued its organization during the War of 
the Revolution, and was frequently in service. 
It was at the Danbury fight in April, 1777, re- 
inforced Washington on the Hudson, and served 
faithfully until peace was declared. 

Lieut. Miles Merwin had married when a 
young man of twenty-four, his bride being only 
twenty. 

The record of their marriage reads: "Miles 
Merwin and Mary Talcott were Joyned in Mar- 
riage June 30, 1743." 

She was the daughter of Hezekiah Talcott, 
(b. Feb. 24, 1685-6; d. Feb. 13, 1764), who 
was the proprietor of the best part of Durham, 
and of his wife, Jemima Parsons, grand-daugh- 



59 



ter of Cornet Joseph Parsons, one of the found- 
ers of Springfield, Mass. 

The great, carved, oaken chest, mentioned on 
another page as being an heir-loom in the 
family of Miles Talcott Merwin, bears the 
initials I. P., and was brought from England 
by our ancestor, Cornet Joseph Parsons. 

At the time of Mary Talcott's marriage to 
Miles Merwin, her uncle, Joseph Talcott, had 
been Governor of Connecticut for seventeen 
years, and all of the Talcott family had been 
prominent in the history of the New England 
Colonies, from their earliest settlement. 

Lieut. Miles Merwin (1719-1786) and Mary 
Talcott, his wife, had eight children : 



Miles, born May 1, 1744 



Daniel, ' 


' May 


30, 


1746 


Job, ' 


' Feb. 


16, 


1749 


Noah, ' 


' Nov. 


9, 


1752 


Mary, ' 


' Nov. 


24, 


1755 


Ehoda, ' 


' Aug. 


19, 


1757 


Sarah, ' 


' June 


'T, 


1760 


David, ' 


' Feb. 


10, 


1763 



Job Merwin, who inherited the homestead, 
died in 1824, leaving his widow with a very 
good property. The funeral expenses were such 



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as were usual in those days, and I copy them 
from the old Merwin account book: 

To James Clark for digging grave . $1.25 

To Charles Camp for making coffin . 2.75 

To John Loveland for tolling the bell .50 

To Olive Norton for making shroud . 37^ 

$4.87i 
A shroud was always used for the dead, made 
of a soft white cloth manufactured for that pur- 
pose, and called "shrouding." No one was ever 
"laid out," to use the old-fashioned expression, 
in clothing worn by them in life. 

The use of a hearse for the coffin and covered 
carriages for the family was unknown at that 
time. Coffins were placed upon a long wagon, 
and covered with a pall. 



* * * 



* 



Lieutenant Miles Merwin died December 12, 
1786, sixty-seven years old. His wife, Mary 
Talcott, died January 18, 1793. Their graves 
are close by those of his father and mother, in 
the old cemetery in Durham. 

The inscription on his grave-stone is : 

"In memory of Lieut. Miles Merwin, 
who having served his generation ac- 
cording to the will of God through a 

6i 



useful life, finished his course on earth 
Dec. 12, 1786, in the 66th year of his 
age." 

"The sweet remembrance of the just, 
Like a green root, revives and bears, 
When dying nature sleeps in dust." 

Miles, their eldest son, born May 1, 1744, the 
fifth generation in this country, married Mary 
Parmelee, November 4, 1767. 

Her grandfather, Joel Parmelee, (1714-1788), 
was one of the first settlers of Durham, his 
name being on the petition for the town plat 
in 1699. 

His grandfather, John Parmelee, was one of 
the first settlers in Guilford, coming there in the 
company of Rev. Henry Whitfield, who built 
the Old Stone House. 

John Parmelee's home lot in Guilford in 
1636 was the land on which the First Congrega- 
tional Church and the adjacent buildings now 
stand. 

"John Permeley", who came from England 
with Whitfield was one of the twenty-five who 
signed the Covenant on board the ship, June 1, 
1639, when they had been on the ocean about ten 
days. 

His father, Maurice Parmele, fled to Holland 
from the persecution in England about 1567. 

His great-grandson, our great-great-grand- 

62 



father, Joel Parmelee, was a private in the War 
of the Revolution in 1776, in Captain Hand's Co. 
Colonel Talcott's Eegiment. Later in the same 
year he was Corporal in Captain Steven's Co. 
with John Parmelee, probably his son, serving 
as drummer. 

In 1779 his name appears as Sergeant enlisted 
for the War in the Sixth Connecticut Line Eegi- 
ment under Captain Bezaleel Bristol. 

The family home of Miles and Mary Parmelee 
Merwin was the house at the head of Brick Lane, 
known as the Miles Merwin house, which has al- 
ways since been in the family, and is now owned 
by his great-grandson, Edward Payson Merwin. 

It is supposed that this Miles, the fifth gener- 
ation, built this house, and planted the noble 
line of maples in front of it. 

Their eleven children were : 



Jerusha, born August 27, 


1768, 


Eunice, ' 


' April 27, 


1770, 


Miles, ' 


' February 2, 


1772, 


Olive, 


' December 12, 


1773, 


Ruth, ' 


' June 25, 


1776, 


Nancy, ' 


' October 25, 


1778, 


Rhoda, ' 


* November 11, 


1780, 


Jesse, ' 


' December 23, 


1782, 


Mary, ' 


May, 14, 


1785, 


Hannah, ' 


' August 31, 


1787, 


Noah, < 


' November 9, 


1789, 



63 



Those eight daughters followed the example 

of the worthy woman in the Book of Proverbs: 

"She layeth her hands to the distaff, 
and her hands hold the spindle; she 
maketh linen garments and selleth 
them, and delivereth girdles unto the 
merchant. " 

The great clumsy loom upon which every 
year they wove hundreds of yards of cloth, is 
still standing, a curiosity to the children of to- 
day. 

The old account-book kept the record of vari- 
eties of weaving; Curtain-cloth, striped cloth, 
striped linen, tow-cloth, plain cloth, bed-tick, 
worsted, &c. The "setting-out" of eight brides 
must have involved a vast amount of spinning 
and weaving, not to mention the millions of 
stitches of hand sewing. 

Most of the Merwin men lived to a good old 
age, but this Miles and Mary Parmelee, his wife, 
both died under fifty. His death was July 31, 
1793, and hers June 6, 1795. 

It was usual to carve an account of the vir- 
tues of our ancestors upon their headstones, and 
some of these epitaphs may be undeserved, but 
this great-grandmother of ours was worthy of 
the words above her: 

"Prudence and grace adorned her mind: 
Her lips were peace, her carriage love: 
Patient -and meek, to Heaven resigned. 
She died in faith of joys above." 

64 




Ellen Maria Nkwtox 




Henry Gleason Newton 
Seventh s^reneration in the line of their father 
Eighth in the line of their mother 



Miles had died two years earlier, and the in- 
scription upon his grave is: 

' 'When thou, my Jesus and my God 
Shall come in majesty divine, 
Raised from the dust in glory bright. 
With joy and beauty shall I shine." 
Their eldest son. Miles of the sixth generation, 
our grand-father, is well remembered by all of 
his grand-children. He was born February 2, 
1772, married November 27, 1794, died July 31, 
1859; 87 years old. 

His first wife, the mother of all his children, 
was Phebe Camp, a descendant of Nicholas 
Camp, one of the first settlers of Milford, and 
also of Thomas Welles, who was Governor of 
Connecticut in the years 1655 and 1659, being 
Governor, Deputy Governor or Treasurer of the 
Colonial Government for many years until his 
death in office. 

The nine children of Miles Merwin and Phebe 
Camp his wife, were: 

Miles, born Thursday, September 7, 1795 
Alva, born Wednesday, October 12, 1796 
Phebe Camp, born Saturday, March 31, 1798 
Ruth, born Wednesday, December 11, 1799 
Mary Parmelee, born Thursday, Nov. 12, 1801 
Alva, born Saturday, October 29, 1803 
Rhoda, born Wednesday, September 11, 1805 
Noah, born Wednesday, June 24, 1807 
Nancy Mariah, born Thursday, March 29, 1810. 

65 



The Camp family were in comfortable circum- 
stances, and Phebe's wedding dress, in 1T94, 
was very handsome. 

It was a heavy brocaded green silk damask, 
made with a short waist and long skirt. 

When the third church was built, in 1835, 
these long straight breadths of her wedding 
dress were dyed red. and given by her to cover 
the cushion of the pulpit. It was burned with 
the building November 28, 1844. Some treas- 
ured bits of both red and green remain to us, 
and a few pieces of her furniture and silver. 
As was the custom in New England at that 
time, her silver spoons, still firm and good, were 
engraved with the initials of both husband and 
wife, M. P. M., theM for Miles and P for Phebe 
Merwin. 

She had some property of her own, a part of 
which was a rather valuable tract of land on 
what was called West Mountain. This was 
sold after her death and the proceeds divided 
among her six living daughters. 

Of her nine children, all except the first 
daughter, Alva, lived to a good age, all married, 
and all except Phebe, whose married life was 
less than two years, had children. 

The mother died December 1, 1812, when little 
Nancy was only two and a half years old. 

Miles, the eldest son, the seventh generation, 

66 



and Noah, the younger, settled on farms close 
by their father's and lived and died there. 
Miles enlisted in the War of 1812 serving under 
Commander Medad Hotchkiss and Commander 
John Butler. 

He was stationed at New London, but did not 
serve out of the State. 

The daughters married and settled, some 
nearer, some farther from the old home, but 
none so far away that they did not occasionally 
return for the Thanksgiving gatherings. 

Each of the six daughters had a bountiful 
"setting-out" of linen and wool, raised on the 
farm, spun on the great wheel and little wheel, 
and woven on the loom in the red painted build- 
ing which they called "the shop" and which 
stood a few feet east of the house. 

There were windows on every side of the shop, 
for it was all in one room, and it was sunny 
and warm and bright on cold winter days when 
the six sisters were at work there together, for 
no one of the six married until the youngest was 
fourteen years old. 

Each could spin and weave her own linen, al- 
though for preparing the table linen, the intri- 
cate and mysterious patterns of "huck-a-buck 
and bird's eye" and "M's and N's," they re- 
quired the skill of a specialist from another fam- 
ily- 

67 



Every separate article was marked in blue 
linen cross-stitch with the initials of its owner, 
and laid away in her particular chest to wait for 
the marrige which was sure to come. 

Each daughter knit a pillow case full of stock- 
ings, of linen thread, of woolen yarn, and some 
of cotton also, every one marked carefully with 
the blue initials, and in some cases they lasted 
until earthly apparel was no longer needed. 

They had nice dresses for best, of silk, and of 
soft French chintz, and as the wearing of a cap 
was then a badge and token of the married 
state, as a wedding ring was among Episcopa- 
lians, and is now among even orthodox Congre- 
gationalists, each for her marriage provided a 
handsome cap of real lace, and wore it there- 
after on all ceremonious occasions. The quaint, 
old family daguerreotypes which we prize so 
highly, show us the fashion of them, but the 
vandal hands of their children long ago des- 
troyed the dear old caps, to obtain the lace for 
other uses. 

With all the work that was done in the red 
shop, the sisters found time for reading and 
study and embroidery on lace and muslin, of 
which sorde fine specimens have been inherited 
by their children. 

The youngest one, Nancy Maria, my mother, 
was remarkable for the number of verses she 
could repeat in the Sunday-school. 

68 




Phebe Camp White 
Ruth Lee Mary ParmeIvEE Nobi,e 

Al,VA Bai,dwin 

Nancy Maria Newton Rhoda Sage 

Daughters of Miles Merwin (1772-1859) 



This Sunday School was first organized in, or 
a little before, the year 1818, when Nancy was 
eight years old, and her elder sister, Phebe, was 
chosen the first female Superintendent. 

The lessons were simply committing to mem- 
ory Bible verses, hymns, and answers in the As- 
sembly's Shorter Catechism. 

Nancy laid her Bible open before her on the 
bench of her spinning-wheel, and in the cease- 
less stepping to and fro as she drew out and 
twisted the thread, she learned verse after verse 
and chapter after chapter, until she could re- 
peat every word of the Book of Isaiah, as well 
as many other parts of the Bible. 

In the early days of this Sabbath-School, it 
was continued through the summer, then closed 
for the winter in October, with a public meet- 
ing, a long, solemn address, usually by one of 
the deacons, written, and read from the manu- 
script, and a report of the state of the school, 
and the number of verses that had been recited 
in the six months. 

In October, 1824, the report was, "22,192 
verses of scripture, 2335 answers of catechism, 
6,572 verses of hymns, making a total of 31,099, 
and this exclusive of the adult classes." 

Nancy, at this time, was the only one of the 
sisters young enough to be considered a child. 

Most of them married young, quite as soon as 

69 



the linen chests were filled; and at the time of 
marriage, the father added a gift of a sum of 
money, so that each daughter furnished the 
house which her husband provided. 

Rose blankets and imported counterpanes were 
purchased for best, but for ordinary use, the 
home-made linen and wool lasted for many 
years. 

These six sisters, although sometimes separa- 
ted after marriage in different towns and states, 
always cherished the strongest affection for each 
other to the end of life. 

A few only of their many affectionate letters 
to each other have been preserved. There is one 
written by Phebe to Nancy after the death and 
burial of her much loved husband, Seymour 
White. They had lived together only a year 
and a half, in the house now owned and occupied 
by George Francis. After his death, she re- 
turned to her father's house, remaining there 
until she received a most urgent call to fill the 
position of matron to the American Asylum for 
the Deaf in Hartford. 

How acceptably and lovingly she performed 
the duties of that office, can best be told by an 
extract from an article published in the year 
1885 by one who had been many years before 
under her care. 

" In the heart of every graduate of the Asylum 

70 



in the forty years in which Mrs. Phebe C. White 
filled the post of matron, she occupied a warm 
corner. 

" She was a second mother to all of them — 
some of them knew no other — and around her 
name clusters many a tender memory of their 
younger days, when they were far from home. 
She was emphatically a woman among a thous- 
and; yea, among ten thousand. 

' ' T last saw her a few years ago, in Central 
New York, where she was visiting, and it was a 
real pleasure to look upon her beaming, mother- 
ly face, and clasp her honest hand after years of 
absence. 

"She long ago vacated the office she had so 
truly filled, and only recently passed, at a ripe 
old age, to the world beyond." 

A strong family feeling continued through 
the next, the present generation. There were 
thirty -five cousins, though not all living at one 
time. Twenty-eight of them lived to manhood 
and womanhood, and as every family finally 
settled within twenty miles of the ancestral 
home in Durham, visits were often exchanged. 

A few weeks before grandfather's death, in 
the summer of 1859, the family assembled at the 
old home, and thirteen great-grand children 
then living, sat together around one table. 

He walked into the room, and looking upon 

71 



them with deep emotion said, ' ' This is a most 
interesting sight; be good children all of you, 
live in peace, and prepare to meet me in 
Heaven." 

There were at this time, in 1859, fifteen sons 
and daughters, counting also their wives and 
husbands, thirty-two grand children and thirteen 
great-grand children. 

There were four generations of Miles Merwins 
then living in Durham in a radius of half a 
mile. 

They were distinguished as Miles Senior, Miles 
Junior, Miles Talcott, and Miles Tyler Merwin, 
the last named being a child of ten years, one of 
the great-grand children above mentioned. 

Of the twenty-eight cousins who were living 
at the same time, too many died in their 
youth, Frances, Marietta, Elizabeth and Henry 
Sage following each other in quick succession. 
Lyman Baldwin, Charlotte Ellen Noble, a young 
girl, always bright and cheerful, helpful to her 
friends, sparing no pains or trouble to make 
others happy, Charles Gilbert Lee, wasting his 
young life in Andersonville prison, Ellen Maria 
Newton, useful everywhere, organist in the choir, 
a teacher in Sunday School, a great favorite with 
all her friends, and filling the place of a 
mother in her own home, Henry Merwin 
Baldwin, a soldier in the Civil War, severely 

72 



wounded in the battle of Olustee, Florida, 
Caroline and Phebe, daughters of Miles Merwin, 
Mary Noble Arnold; "all these died in faith" 
many years ago. 

Their numbers are now rapidly diminishing. 
The earliest born and the latest born passed 
away in 1904, Miles Talcott Merwin at the age 
of eighty-two and Charles Baldwin Merwin, 
October 31, at fifty-six. 

Charles Baldwin Merwin had long been in 
failing health, and made his will a few years 
ago, remembering all his near relatives, and 
providing that after their decease, a large part 
of the property he had accumulated should bene- 
fit the church and schools in his native town of 
Durham. 

He also bequeathed, besides the gifts to church 
and Sunday School and High School, three 
thousand dollars for establishing and replenish- 
ing a library in connection with the school, and 
a fund the income of which was to be expended 
in the care of the cemeteries of Durham. 

Miles Talcott Merwin was the first of the line 
to be distinguished by a middle name, for the 
reason that in his early life, the three gener- 
ations of Miles Merwins were still living and 
all residents of Durham. He was still strong 
and courageous at the age of eighty. Though 
bent with rheumatism, and often suffering from 

73 



other disabilities, he continued managing his 
large farm himself, driving in storms of 
winter and heat of summer ten miles to market 
his produce, and seemed expecting to continue 
doing the same for years to come until the 
accident of a fall in the barn caused the 
illness which resulted in his death after two 
weeks of suffering, August 29, 1904. 

He had been useful through all his long life 
in the affairs of town, of church and of Sunday 
School, his place there never being vacant ex- 
cept by reason of illness. 

For the last twenty years of his life he had 
been annually elected President of the Sunday 
School Association, taking charge of all its 
business meetings. 

He was much interested in the work of the 
Historical Society, which was formed in Dur- 
ham at the Bi-Centennial of the town in 1899, 
and had prepared some interesting papers for 
the meetings. 

He was the last "tything-man" elected by the 
First Church of Durham, and might be said to 
have died in office, although his election was 
many years ago. 

A tything-man was an officer elected annually 
in the days of our grandfathers to preserve 
order in the meeting-house during services, as 
well as to make complaint of any disorderly con- 
duct or travel on the Sabbath. 

74 




z 











C 
'J 






Miles Talcott Merwin felt a great interest in 
the history of the family. 

All the descendants of our grandfather were 
invited to a re-union at his house in August, 
1903, the plans having been made and invita- 
tions written and sent by Henry G. Newton and 
wife of New Haven. 

The day appointed proved to be very stormy, 
but thirty-seven gathered there. 

They had a business meeting, forming the 
Merwin Association, electing Miles Talcott Mer- 
win President, Mary E. Van Size, Vice-Presi- 
dent, and Caroline Gaylord Newton, Secretary. 

Speeches were made by those accepting these 
offices, a historical paper was read by the Sec- 
retary, and many reminiscences were given by 
the elder ones among the cousins. 

A flash-light photograph was taken of the 
group, but because of the rain, some had al- 
ready left the circle. 

Plans were laid for yearly meetings of the 
Association, but illness and death have pre- 
vented their meeting again. 

Mrs. Mary E. Van Size, the eldest of the re- 
maining cousins, then in her eighty-second 
year, with mind and memory and bodily health 
still unimpaired, was at that time unanimously 
elected Vice-President of the Merwin Associa- 
tion, and in response made an appropriate 



75 



speech, telling some stories of her childhood 
days when her home was near grandfather's 
house. 

She spoke of the Thanksgiving Days when all 
the descendants came together without ex- 
ception; of the long table in the East room, the 
striped hempen and woolen carpet which covered 
the floor; the beautiful pink china, and the cut 
glass brought out from the glass fronted buffet 
which is still in the corner of the west parlor. 

This pink china was purchased by the step- 
mother, Miles' second wife, Abigail Seward. 

Mrs. Van Size remembered the wonderful 
journey that she made with her father and 
mother and little brother, Lyman, in the year 
1834. 

They put beds, bedding and provisions into a 
long wagon, drawn by two horses, and left 
Durham on a Friday morning, stopping for a 
lodging on the way wherever the darkness hap- 
pened to find them; resting over the Sabbath 
after two days' journey, according to the com- 
mandment, and on Monday proceeding again on 
their way. 

They saw many strange things, among oth- 
ers, that astonishing sight, the new railroad 
and train running from Albany to Schenectady. 
They stayed a short time with relatives in 



76 



Albany, then drove on, reaching their jour- 
ney's end at Sherburne, New York. 

The family afterwards returned to Connecti- 
cut, and settled in Cromwell. 

Others among the cousins added to the 
interest of the re-union by their recollections 
of the old days. 

Henry S. Merwin, Mrs. Wealthy Ives, wife of 
John Ives, of Meriden, Thomas Noble, William 
H. Lee, Henry G. Newton and others gave 
interesting reminiscences. 

Letters were read from absent ones, and a 
memorial book was prepared in which all present 
registered their names. 

Those present were: 

Miles Talcott Merwin, 

Henry Sage Merwin, 

Lucy Stowe Merwin, 

George Barber Merwin, 

Ella Elizabeth Merwin, 

Emily Foote Merwin, 

Agnes Dickerman Merwin, 

Asaph Merriam Merwin, 

Harry M. Merwin, 

Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Van Size, 

Thomas Noble, 

Mrs. Thomas Noble, 

(Elizabeth Baldwin Noble,) 

Miss Sarah Ellen Noble, 

Thomas Henry Noble, 

John Ives, 

Mrs. John Ives, (Wealthy Merwin Ives), 

77 



Mrs. James P. Piatt, (Harriett Ives Piatt), 
Miss Majorie Piatt, 
William Henry Lee, 

Mrs. William H. Lee, (Mary Griswold Lee), 
Charles Sherman Lee, 
William Randall Lee, 
Mrs.Wm. Randall Lee, (Lucy Foote Lee), 
Albert Clifford Lee, 
Miss Hotchkiss (later Mrs. A. C. Lee), 
Earle Baldwin, 

Mrs. Earle Baldwin, (Ruth Lee Baldwin), 
Dorthy Baldwin, 
Miss Martha Wetmore, 
Leland Howard Ives, 
Henry Huntington Newton, 
Mrs. H. H. Newton, (Caroline Gaylord 
Newton), 

Henry Gleason Newton, 

Mrs. H. G. Newton, (Sarah Baldwin Newton) 

Miss Caroline Newton Stevens. 

Letters were read from: 

Mrs. N. E. Stark, (Mary Lee Stark, 

Mrs. Ellen M. Lee Bristol and family. 

General Edward Merwin Lee, 

Miles Tyler Merwin, 

Edward Payson Merwin, 

Charles Baldwin Merwin, 

The exercises closed with the singing of Auld 
Lang Syne, and Praise God from Whom All 
Blessings Flow. 

78 



FIRST GENERATION. 

Miles Merwin,^ born about 1623, died April 
23, 1697. 

He married Elizabeth Baldwin, widow of 
Theophilus Canfield. 

Their children were: 

SECOND GENERATION. 

Elizabeth, 

John, born 1650, 

Abigail, born 1652, 

Thomas, born 1654, 

Samuel, born August 21, 1656, 

Miles^ born December 14, 1658, 

Daniel, born, June 30, 1661. 

The mother died July 10, 1664. 

Miles married again Sarah Piatt, widow of 
Thomas Beach. 

Their children were: 

Martha and Maria, born January 23 1666. 

Hannah, born November 15, 1667. 

Deborah and Daniel, born April 24, 1670. 

The mother died April 24, 1670. 

Miles married again Sarah, widow of Daniel 
Scofield, by whom he had no children. 

Miles Merwin^, born December 14, 1658, 
died * * * 

79 



He married Hannah Wilmot, widow of Samuel 
Miles, September 26, 1681. 
Their children were: 

THIRD GENERATION. 

Elizabeth^ born January 10, 1683, 
Miles*, ^ 

DanieP, 1688. 
Daniel Merwin, born 1688, died April 11, 
1766, married Sarah Botchford November 30, 
1710. 

Their children were: 

FOURTH GENERATION. 

Ann, born November 30, 1712, 

Daniel, born September 15, 1714, 
Ann, born March 24, 1715-16, 

Sarah, born June 10, 1718, 
"Miles, born November 29, 1719, 
D. Miles, born March 27, 1721, 
Elizabeth, born February 14, 1722-23. 

Lieutenant "Miles Merwin, born November 29, 
1719, married Mary Talcott June 30, 1743, and 
died December 12, 1786. 

Their children were: 

FIFTH GENERATION. 

^Miles, born May 1, 1744, 
Daniel, born May 30, 1746, 
Job, born February 16, 1749, 
Noah, born November 9, 1752, 
Mary, born May 24, 1755, 
Rhoda, born August 19, 1757, 
Sarah, born June 7, 1760, 
David, born June 7, 1760, 
David, born February 10, 1763. 

8o 



Miles Merwirig, born May 1, 1744, died July- 
Si, 1793. He married Mary Parmelee November 
4, 1767. 

Their children were: 

SIXTH GENERATION. 

Jerusha, born August 27, 1768. 

Eunice, " April 27, 1770. 

Miles, " February 2, 1772. 

Olive, " December 12, 1773. 

Ruth, " June 25, 1776. 

Nancy, " October 25, 1778. 

Rhoda, " November 11, 1780. 

Jesse, " December 23, 1782. 

Mary, " May 14, 1785. 

Hannah, " August 31, 1787. 

Noah, " November 9, 1789. 

Miles Merwin^, born February 2, 1772, died 

July 31, 1859. He married November 27, 1794, 
Phebe Camp. 

Their children were: (recorded in the hand- 
writing of our grandfather in the Family Bible) : 

SEVENTH GENERATION. 

Miles^, born September 7, 1795, Thursday, 
Alva, born October 12, 1796, Wednesday, 
Phebe Camp, born March 31, 1798, Saturday, 
Ruth, born December 11, 1799, Wednesday, 
Mary Parmelee, born November 12, 1801, 
Thursday, 

Alva, born October 29, 1 803, Saturday, 
Rhoda, born September 11, 1805, Wednesday, 
Noah, born June 24, 1807, Wednesday, 
Nancy Mariah, born March 29, 1810, Thurs- 
day. 

8i 



OUR ancestor's whose names are on the 

MEMORIAL BRIDGE. 

Eeference has been made to the Memorial 
Bridge in Milford. 

Many of the old New England families are 
descendants of those whose names are upon that 
bridge. 

I count among my ancestors fourteen of those 
names, seven in the Merwin line, and seven in 
the Newton line; in some cases, by the inter- 
marriage of families, having the same by both 
father and mother. 

I take these numbers as corresponding to 
those in Ye Story of ye Memorial, as told by 
Nathan C. Pond. 

No. 9. TJiomas Buckingham, 
Obit 1657, 
Hannah, his wife. 

Their daughter Hannah married Thomas 
Welch; their daughther Sarah married Captain 
Samuel Newton, son of Rev. Roger Newton; 
their son, Abner Newton, my great- great-grand- 
father, married Mary Bur well, and settled in 
Durham ; their son Burnell married Eunice 
Johnson; their son Abner married Abigail Fair- 
child; their son Gaylord married Nancy Merwin, 
my mother. 

No. 10. Deacon Richard Piatt, 
Obit 1684, 
Mary, his luife. 

Their daughter, Sarah Piatt, married Miles 
Merwin; their daughter Deborah married Sam- 

82 






yJi^ir/orLy 



uel Burwell; their daughter, Mary Burwell, 
married Abner Newton, as above. 
No. 13. John Burwell, 
Obit 1649, 
Alice, his ivife. 
These are the father and mother of the Samuel 
Burwell in the previous paragraph. 
No. 15 Joseph Baldwin. 
Obit 1690. 
Hannah, his ivife. 
Their son Johnathan married Thankful 
Strong; their son, Ezra Strong, married Ruth 
Curtis; their daughter, Phebe Curtis, married 
Elah Camp; their daughter, Phebe Camp, mar- 
ried Miles Merwin, my grandfather. 
No. 16. Timothy Baldtvin, 
Obit 1664. 
Mary, his ivife. 
Their daughter, Hannah Baldwin, married 
Elnathan Botsf ord ; their daughter Sarah, mar- 
ried Daniel Merwin, and settled in Durham. 
No. 19. Miles Merwin. 
Obit 1697, 
Sarah, his wife. 
All of the name in Milford and Durham 
descend from him, and his tombstone is the only 
one known to be that of an early settler, in the 
Milford cemetery. It has been engraved and 
published in the book "Old Tomb-stones of 
Milford." (See illustration on a previous page.) 

83 



His first wife was Elizabeth Baldwin, the 
second Sarah Piatt. I am a descendant of both 
wives, on my mother's side from Miles, the son 
of Elizabeth, and on my father's side from De- 
borah, daughter of Sarah Piatt, and Miles Mer- 
win; the 7th generation by my father, and 8th 
by my mother. 

No. 20. Thomas Welch, 
Obit 1681, 
Hannah, his wife. 

Their daughter, Sarah, married Captain 
Samuel Newton; their son, Abner Newton, 
married Mary Burwell, as above. 

No. 22. Nicholas Camp, 
Sarah, his tvife. 

Their son, Joseph Camp, married Hannah 
Rogers, daughter of Eleazer Rogers and Eliza- 
beth Knowles; their son Nathan married Rhoda 
Parsons, daughter of Samuel Parsons, and 
grand-daughter of Cornet Joseph Parsons; their 
daughter Rhoda married Joel Parmelee; their 
daughter Mary married Miles Merwin, my great- 
grandfather. 

Also a son of Nathan Camp and Rhoda Par- 
sons, Elah Camp, married Phebe Baldwin; their 
daughter, Phebe Camp, married Miles Merwin, 
my grandfather. 



84 



No. 23. John Stream 
Obit 1685 
Martha Beard, his wife. 

Sarah Beard, daughter of Martha Beard by 
her first husband, was the wife of Nicholas 
Camp, number 22. 

No. 24. Thomas Ford 

Elizabeth, his wife. 

Their daughter, Abigail Ford, married Elder 
John Strong; their daughter Thankful married 
Johnathan Baldwin, the son of Joseph Baldwin, 
as before mentioned. 

No. 25. Sarg^t. Thomas Campfield 

Obit 1689 
Phebe Crane, his wife. 

Their son, Thomas Campfield, born October 
14, 1654, married Rebecca Adkinson; their 
daughter, Phebe Campfield, married John 
Camp; their daughter Phebe married Samuel 
Fairchild; their son, Elisha Fairchild, married 
Abigail Crowell; their daughter Abigail Fair- 
child married Abner Newton, my grandfather. 



85 



No. 26. Henry Botsford, 
Obit 1686, 
Elizabeth, his ivife. 

They had five daughters, but only one son^ 
Elnathan, born in Milford in 1641. Elnathan 
Botsford married Hannah Baldwin; their 
daughter Sarah married Daniel Merwin and 
settled in Durham. 

No. 28. Joseph Peck, 
Obit 1701, 
Alice, his wife. 
This Alice, before her marriage to Peck, was 
the widow of John Burwell, grandmother of 
Mary Burwell, wife of Abner Newton. 
No. 29. John Smith, 
Obit 1684 
Grace, his wife. 
This Grace Smith was Grace Hawley, daughter 
of Joseph Hawley, the ancestor of Governor 
and Senator Joseph Hawley. 

Their daughter, Mehitabel Smith, married 
Edward Camp; their son, Joseph Camp, married 
Phebe Canfield; their daughter, Phebe Camp, 
married Samuel Fairchild; his son Elisha Fair- 
child, married Abigail Crowell; their daughter 
Abigail married Abner Newton, my grand- 
father. 



86 



Besides these whose names are on the bridge, 
there are many others whom we remember as 
our historic ancestors, those who made the New 
England wilderness to blossom as the rose, pre- 
paring homes and churches and schools and 
colleges for us, their children. 

Among the ancestors of the present Merwin 
family are: John Birdsey, Matthew Mitchell, 
Robert Coe, Joseph Hawley, Timothy, Joseph 
and Richard Baldwin, Joseph Andrews, Nicholas 
Camp, Joseph Judson, John Curtis, Henry 
Woodward, Captain John Taylor, Thomas Bliss, 
John Rogers, Thomas Ford, Cornet Joseph Par- 
sons, Alexander Knowles, John Kirby, John 
Parmelee of Guilford, Lieutenant Colonel John 
Talcott of Hartford, Thomas Welles, for many 
years Governor, Deputy Governor and Treas- 
urer of Connecticut, and others whose names 
are well known and honored. 



87 



Letter of John Coe, son of Robert Coe, to 
Mary Hawley Coe, his ivife. 

We are their descendants in the Sixth Genera- 
tion. 

"Westfield, August 23d, 1708. 
My Dear Wife: — 

This comes to bring my harty 
love and efections to you, and to tell you of my 
earnest desiar to imbrace you in the arms of 
love hoping they may find you and ours in 
health. 

I have been very well ever since I left you for 
which I prays God. The post from Albani last 
week brings news that the enimy disagre and 
french indians are turned bak, the scouts from 
dearfield have not yet discovered the army we 
look for a post from Albani tomorrow after 
which we are in great hopes of being drawn ofe 
or the greater part of us. 

I am just now a going to Northampton to 
wait on our governor which makes me in so 
much hast. So I remain till death your loving 
husband. 

John Coe. 

Our soldiers here are all well. " 

The address is to "Mary Coe, Living at Strat- 
ford." 

This letter was written by my great-great- 
great-great-grandfather, at this time a man fifty 

88 



years old, to his wife, while he was serving 
against the French and Indians. Deerfield had 
been destroyed for the second time four years 
previously, and the difficulty in this war was to 
discover from what direction the enemy would 
next appear. 

Bancroft says ' ' they stealthily approached 
towns even in the heart of Massachusetts." 

Six days after this letter was written, August 
29th, the French and Indians appeared suddenly 
at Haverhill, and massacred the inhabitants, 
beating the minister, Benjamin Rolfe, to death; 
braining his wife with a tomahawk; dashing 
the head of his babe against a stone, and "there 
were a multitude of the slain." 

Thomas Welles 1598— Jan. 14, 1660. 

Thomas Welles, born in 1598 was descended 
from an old family of the English nobility. He 
was twice married, first to Elizabeth Hunt, who 
died in 1640, afterwards to Elizabeth (Deming) 
Foote. We are descended from the first wife, 
Elizabeth Hunt. With his wife, he left Roth- 
nell, Northamptonshire, Eng., and came to 
America with Lord Say-aud-Sele early in 1636. 

They settled at Saybrook, but soon removed 
to Hartford, where he always held a prominent 
place in public affairs. He was chosen a magis- 
trate in 1637, and for the remaining twenty-two 

89 



years of his life, continued in some important 
office. 

He was the fourth Governor, but had been 
Deputy, or Lieutenant Governor, Moderator of 
the General Court and Commissioner under the 
earliest two, Haynes and Hopkins. He was 
Governor two years. Deputy Governor four 
years, Secretary of State seven years, and 
Treasurer twelve years. 

All these services were without pay from the 
State. No Governor received a salary until 
1677 when the General Court granted thirty 
pounds annually, "because of many expenses 
and charges." 

He died on Sunday, January 14, 1660, in 
Wethersfield, and was probably buried there, 
his body being afterwards removed to the Center 
church Cemetery in Hartford, the exact place 
of interment being unknown. 



90 




Page 29 



The following is a copy of the first deed ever 
given of the Merwin land in Durham; the 
original deed of 1687 with the seals and signa- 
tures being still in the possession of the family 
of Miles Talcott Merwin. 

The land was given to Major Nash by the 
General Court for his services in the Indian 
Wars. 



To ALL Christian People to whom these 
presents shall come, Greeting : Know ye yt 
Wee Sarah Nash, Philip Payne & Mary my 
wife & Hannah Ball widd. the son-in-law natt 
& lawfull daughters & Executors of ye last 
will and testant of ye hono'ed father, Major 
John Nash, late of Newhaven deceased, for 
and in consideration of ye sum of ffifty pounds 
in Current Country pay according to Inventory 
apprised and payable by us ye sd Executors ac- 
cording to agreement wth & unto Major Aaron 
Cook of Northampton in ye Massachusetts Col- 
ony in right of Elizabeth his wife late deceased, 
and one of ye daughters of ye sd Maj'r John 
Nash and one of ye executors & legatees named 
in his said last will and testant, and for and 
towards ye paym't of ye sd sura of ffifty as a 
part of sd paym't have demised granted & 

made over, & by these presents I do demise 
grant make over and confirm for us, 

91 



each and every of us, the Heirs Executors & 
Assigns for ever unto ye sd Aaron Cook One 
tract or parcell of land, given and granted by 
ye Gen'll Court at Hartford in ye Colony of 
Connecticut by their act bearing date Octobr 
7th, 1674 as in & by ye same may & doth ap- 
pear, & by their order lay'd out to ye sd Maj'r 
Nash by John Moss & John Bracket, Survey- 
ors appointed thereabouts 

lying & being at a place called Cogonshake 
neere Walliogford Containing by estimation 
three hundred acres be it more or less, bound- 
ed by a white oak at ye north east Corner 
marked I. N. I. M. I. B., from thence south- 
ward to a Beech tree marked as above, from 
thence westward to a grt Chestnut tree marked 
in like manner from thence due west to Wall- 
ingford East bounds; from thence to a small 
white oak standing in Middletown south ffrom 
where Wallingford bound stays. This oak is 
marked I. N. wh ffarme or tract of land is ap- 
prised in Inventory of ye sd Maj'rs Estate at 
thirty pounds. 

To Have and to hold the sd ffarme or 
tract of land (soo valewed & apprised as aforsd) 
with ye woods, ways, waters, water Courses, 
Swamps, Uplands, meadows & apurtenances 
with all ye libertys, privaledges, profits & ad- 
vantages thereunto belonging to him ye sd 

92 



Maj'r Aaron Cook his Heirs Executrs Ad- 
ministrators or Assignees forever in fee simple 
yielding or paying to his Majestie and his 
Successors only ye 5th part of gold & Silver 
oar as by Charter is provided without any claims, 
demands, oposition, trouble or molestation to 
him, or them, or any of them, by us the sd 
Sarah Nash, Philip & Mary Paine & Hannah 
Ball, or of or from the Heirs Executor or Ad- 
ministrators or of any of us or them, or of, 
from, or by any other person or persons, claim- 
ing or to claime by from or under us or any of 
us, for, and or by other means or movement by 
any meanes directly or indirectly whatsoever. 

In Witness Whereof we have hereunto set 
hands & scales this 27th day of October, 1687. 

Philip Payne (seal), Sarah nash (seal) 

Mary payne (seal), 
hannah Bal (seal). 

Sealed and delivered in This writing was acknowledged 

presence of us. by the subscribers therein named 

„,, . ,1 T to be their voluntary Act & deed 

Thomas tallmadge, ye day & yeare as above. 

Jno. Tallmadge. g^^^^^ ^^ ^^ j^^^^ 

June ye 3d, 1708, this Instrument was Re- 
corded in ye Records for ye Town of Durham, 
folio 6. 

pr James Wadsworth T. Clerk. 

On the outside is written "a deed of cocking- 
cheg." Major Nash's Heirs Deed to Major 
Cook, 1687. 

93 



An extract from a deed of a part of the Nash 
land to Daniel Merwin in 1724, some of which 
is still in the possession of the Merwin family. 

"Know all men that I, Aaron Cook of Hart- 
ford in the County of Hartford, in the Colony 
of Connecticut, for the sum of Two hundred 
pounds paid by Daniel Merwin of Durham in 
the County of New Haven * * * * 
have sold unto the said Daniel Merwin a certain 
piece or Parcel of land being a Part of the Farm 
called Nashis Farm in Sd Durham containing 
one hundred acres together with all the Remain- 
der of Sd Farm only excepting two hundred 
acres at the eastwardly end provided there be 
three hundred acres or more 
****** # 

"In witness whereof I have signed sealed and 
delivered this Testament this twenty 2d Day of 
Octobr in the eleventh year of the Reign of our 
Sovereign Lord George of Great Britian, King 
&c. Anno Domini 1724. 

Aaron Cooke Senr. 
This has not the clause of the older deed, one- 
fifth of all gold or silver ore to his Majestie. 



94 



Milford May 12th, 1697. 

An Inventory of ye Estate of Miles Murwin 
Senr of Milford, dec'd. 

£ s d 
Wearing Aparell £30, Os, 6d, fulled 

linssy woolsy 5 . . . . 35 00 06 
two bedsteads and bed furniture £19, 

4s, Cubords, babbes, Cheses and a 

box, £4, lis, . . . 23 15 00 

table linen and pillow beer 16, 13, 04 

Carpet and sheets 23, 15, . . 40 05 06 
A cubbord form. Cushions, thread 

and hose yarn . . . . 02 05 06 
Glass bottles woollen and linnen yarn 

and cards, . . . . , 08 16 05 
Jeny baskets Juggs wheeles flax and 

a box iron, . . . . 05 1-J- 05 

Cash and a Silver Cup 7, 3, 6d, Gim 

blet buttons and Knives, 18s 4d, . 08 02 10 
A pair of mony scales and pins and a 

chest, sheares needles Iron tooles, 08 02 10 
Needles silk Rasors Socks A pc broad 

cloth, paper, combs, . . . 03 08 03 
Buckles timber nails, a wheat Riddle 

2, 18, hackling, . . . . 05 19 06 

Iron tooles Grater spoon and nails 2, 

10, 6, pipes a box and buttons 

powder butchers ax, 2, 0, 8, . . 04 19 02 
Scotch cloth linnen 6, 8, Iron sheets 

old guns pistollsand sword £11, Is, 

9d, . . . - . . 17 19 09 

A new fether bed Curtens blankets. 

Coverlids, . . . . 17 04 00 

Screws pens hooks locks forks a chest 

a hat and a box, . . . . 07 03 06 

95 



hops Ropes and hooks and lines a bed 

sheet and furniture, 
A hammock tallow and flax Corne 

waues, . ..... 

Sheets tow cloth Carry boxes, barells 

and bushels, .... 

A table chairs, bras and peuter and a 

110 acres of land, 
pewter and spoones, tinware, bras 

mortar, earthen ware and measures, 
wooden ware Sadie Chafin dish iron 

pestle and mortar, 
bags Corne, wheat and meal pork and 

beefe, tramells tongs, . 
Cider and old cask £5, 15s, tobaco 

Oyle pack sadle hors halter. 
Oxen Cows a bull and young cattle 

26, 13, one tray China a hetchell 

and books, .... 

24 Bushel malt and a mare 4, 14, 

land bought of Nathll Farran £10, 
pewter and spoones. Earthenware 

wooden ware and iron ware iron 

and a Canoe £1, 14s, 9d, 

Thomas Murwin's debts by bill £2, 
One butternut sheet an old one, 



09 11 06 
30 16 09 

13 05 00 
59 07 00 
05 10 06 
12 10 06 
11 10 06 

14 16 00 

32 06 03 
14 14 00 



51 14 09 

00 15 00 



The In'y taken by us 

John Smith j 

Jonathan Baldwin v Sworn 

Timothy Baldwin ) 
Mrs. Sarah Merwin ye widow Sworn 
to ye of ye estate all before ye 

Gods word. 



453 11 11 



96 



Extracts from different Pages of the old Ac- 
count Book: 

Miles Mertvin 

His Book 

Bought January ye 11th, 

A. D., 1796, price 4 shillings, 6 pence. 

/ s d 

1795 to a school rate to Abram Camp 
to a school rate to Mr Coe & Dennis Camp 
to a barrel of cider 

1796 to weaving 19^^ yds of cloth at 8d. per yd 
to weaving 20)4 yds of cloth at yd. per yd 
to 4^ pounds of mutton @ 4^ 
to Olive and Ruth at tayloring 

1797 to one day Braking flax 
to a dozen of ale wives 
to a ladder 
to faning rye and flax seed 

1798 to a quart of brandy 

1799 to weaving 17X yds brown tow cloth @ 7d. pr 

yd. 
to weaving 9^ yds table linen at 8d. per yd 
to weaving 6 yds check linen at 8d. per yd 
to weaving 5 handkerchiefs 
to weaving 79 yds cloth at "jd. per yd 
to a callico gown 

1800 to weaving 41 yds at 7d. per yd 
to weaving J^)4 yds striped linen at 8d. per yd o 

1822 Oct. to two hands ^ day moving old school- 
house and carting boards & lumber from 
Middletown |oo 50 






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5 


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9 






97 



ERRATA. 

Page 62. For Joel Parmelee (1714-1788) read 
Joel Parmelee (1679-1748). 

Page 28. In the list of Newton descendants 
of Miles Merwin of the seventh generation now 
living in Durham, Jonathan Edward Newton 
was omitted. 



INDEX. 



The small figures prefixed to some names indicate the generation in the 
line of descent from the emigrant ancestor. 



Adkinson, Rebecca 85 
Albany 76, 77 
Ailing, Frederic 28 
AUyn, Ivieut. John 49 
Andrews, Joseph 87 
Baldwin, 

Benjamin 58 

Earle 78 

Elizabeth 9, 79, 84 

Dorothy 78 

Harriet Carpenter 78 

Henry Merwin 72 

Jonathan 83, 85, 96 

Joseph 83. 85, 87 

Lyman 72, 76 

Richard 87 

Ruth Lee 78 

Timothy 35, 83, 87, 96 
Ball, Hannah 91, 93 
Barton, Frank 53 
Beach, Thomas 25, 79 
Beard, 

Martha 85 

Mercy 34 

Sarah 85 
Birdsey, John 87 
Bliss, Thomas 87 
Botsford, 

Flnathan 53, 83 

Sarah 52, 53, 55, 58, 80 
Botts, Goodman 15 



Branker, 

Abigail i 

Brown John 14 

John I, 7, 17 
Brick Lane 54 
Bristol, Ellen M. 78 
Bryan, 

Alexander 33, 42 

J. S. 42 
Buckingham, 

Hannah 82 

Thomas 82 

Burrett, Mary 56 
Burwell, 

Alice 83, 86 

Deborah 34 

John 83, 86 

Mary 52, 84, 86 

Samuel, 16, 83 

Sarah 34 
Butler, 

William 45 

John 67 
Camp, 

Charles 61 

Edward 86 

John 85 

Joseph 86 

Mary 31, 34 

Nathan 53, 54, 84 

Nicholas 65, 85 
100 



Camp, 

Phebe 65, 83, 84, 86 

Samuel 31 
Campfield, 

Phoebe 85 

Thomas 85 
Canfield, 

Abigail 34 

Elizabeth Baldwin 25. 79 

Theophilus 9, 79 
Charter Oak 48 
Chauncey, 

Isaac 54 

Nathaniel 54 
Clarke, 

Daniel 21 

James 61 
Cauchinchag 51 
Cochinchaug 51 
Cogonshake 47, 92 
Cockingcheg 47, 93 
Cokinchauge 50 
Coe, 

John 88 

Mary Hawley 88 

Robert 47, 51. 54. 87, 88 

Coley, Sam 12 
Collins, John 26 
Connecticut River 3 
Cook, 

Aaron 49, 54. 91, 93. 94 

Elizabeth 91 

Francis 49 

Jacob 49 

John 49 

Mary 49 
Crane, Phebe 85 
Cromwell 77 



Crowell, Abigail 85 
Curtis, 

James 51 

John 87 
Dorchester, 2, 3 
Durham 47, 55, 58, 71 
Fairchild, 

Abigail 82, 85 

Elisha 45 

Samuel 47, 51 

Farran, Nathaniel 32 
Foote, Elizabeth Deming 89 
Ford, 

Abigail 85 

Elizabeth 85 

Thomas 85 

Freeman, Stephen 15 

Francis, George 70 

French and Indian War 45, 58, 89 

Gatzmer, Mary 52 

Greenfield, Mass. 28 

Guilford 51 

Gunn, Jasper 15 

Hand, Captain 63 

Hartford 5, 28, 70 

Hartland 28 

Haverhill 89 

Hawley, 

Gov. Joseph 86, 

Grace 86 

Joseph 86, 87 
Haynes, Gov. 90 
Holbrook, 

Hannah 34 

Isaac 43 

Richard 34 
Hollingworth, Joseph 42 
Hooker, Thomas 8 



101 



Hopkins, Gov. 90 
Hotchkiss, Medad 67 
Hubbard, William 54 
Hull, Mary 34 
Hunt, Elizabeth 89 
Ives, 

Harriet White 78 

John 77 

Leland Howard 78 

Wealthy Merwin 77 
Jones, William, 93 
Judson, Joseph 87 
King Charles 1 1 , 48 
Kirby, John 87 
Knowles, Alexander 87 
Lambert's History 10 
LangstaiTe, Bartha 42 
Lee, 

Albert Clifford 78 

Charles Gilbert 72 

Charles Sherman 78 

Ellen Maria 78 

General Edward Merwin 78 

Lucy Foote. 78 

Mrs. Albert C, 78 

Mary Griswold 78 

Ruth Mary 78 

William Henry 78 

William Randall 78 
Long Swamp 47 
Ludlow, Roger 9, 18 
Marwin, Thomas 16 
Marshall, Samuel 9 
Marshfield, Thomas 9 
Mason, John 5 
Mather, Cotton 8 
Mayflower Descendants 50 
Meeting House Hill 48 



Memorial Bridge 82 

Merwin Association 75 

Merwin, 

Abigail 24, 79 
Agnes 77 
Alva 65, 81 
Ann 53, 56 
Asaph 77 
Caroline 73 
Charles B. 73 

3 Daniel 43, 44, 46, 51. 52, 54. 
55. 56. 57. 

4 Daniel 56, 80 

5 Daniel 60, 80 
David 60 

Deborah 27, 28, 29, 82 

D. Miles 53, 58 

Edward P. 63, 78 

Ella 77 

Elnathan 56 

Emily 77 

Elizabeth 24, 34, 43, 53, 56, 79 

Eunice 63 

George 77 

Hannah 27, 56, 

Harry 77 

Henry 77 

Israel 56 

James 56 

Jerusha 63 

Jesse 63 

Job 54, 60, 80 

John 26. 32, 33, 34, 36, 43 

Lucy 77 

Maria 25, 79 

Martha 25, 79 

Mary 57, 60. 63, 65 

Mary Parmelee 65, 81, 84 



102 



Merwin, 

1 Miles I, 5, 6, 7, 8 
10, II, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 
20, 22, 23. 24, 25, 26, 27, 

29. 33. 35, 36, 37, 38, 39. 
41. 42, 82, 83, 84. 

2 Miles 23. 24, 32, 34, 36, 
38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 

3 Miles 43, 44 

4 Miles 53, 58, 59, 60, 61 

5 Miles 60, 62, 63, 64 

6 Miles 63, 65, 72. 83, 84 
" Miles 65, 66, 72, 73. 81 

8 Miles Talcott 55, 58, 72 

75. 77, 91 

9 Miles Tyler 72, 78 

10 Miles Herbert 

6 Nancy 63, 81 

7 Nancy Maria 65, 68, 82 
•T Noah 60, 80 
•"> Noah 63, 81 
7 Noah 65. 81 
Olive 63, 81 
s Phebe 73 
Phebe Camp, 65, 84 
" Phebe Camp 65, 66 
Sarah 29 

Sarah Scofield 35 
Samuel 27, 31, 34, 36. 39. 
Thomas 34, 36, 38, 39, 79 

Merwin's Point 16 
Middletown 51 
Mieles, Stephen 42 
Miles, Samuel 43 
Mitchell, Matthew 87 
Moore, 

Abel II 

Deborah 10 



Moore. 
9, Elnathan 11 

19, Isabel 10 

28, Lydia 11 

40, Mary 11 

Miles 10, II 
37, Miriam 11 

Nash, Major John 49, 91, 93 

Sarah 91, 93 
Nantasket 2 
Newbury, 

Abigail 23, 24 
Benjamin 23, 24 
, 73, Captain 23 

Mary 23, 24 
New Haven 36 
Newton, 

Abigail 45, 82 

1 Abner28, 52.53,82.83,84 

2 Abner, 45, 82 
Abner Buckingham 28 
Arthur Selden 28 
Caroline Gaylord 28, 75, 78 
Captain Samuel 82 
Elizabeth Mary 28 
Ellen Maria 72 
Elmer George 28 
Frederick Sill 28 

79 Gaylord 46 

Gaylord Arthur 28 
Harriet Camp 28 
Henry Gleason 28, 75. 77, 78 
Henry Huntington 28, 78 
Jonathan Edward 28 
Katharine Huntington 28 

Mary Burwell 28, 52 
Nancy Maria 29, 65, 70, 82 
Sarah Baldwin 78 
Stanley Sill 28 

103 



Nilkison, Edwar^ 33 
Noble, 

Charlotte Ellen 72 

Elizabeth Baldwin 77 

Sarah Ellen 77 

Thomas 77 

Thomas Henry 77 

Northampton 54, 88, 91 
Norton, Olive 61 
Old Stone House 62 
Olustee, Florida 73 
Oyster River 16 
Palisado Green 6, 7 
Parmelee, 

Joel 47, 51, 62, 63 

John 51, 62, 63 

Maurice 62 

Parsons, 
Cornet Joseph 60, 84, 87 
Jemima 59 

Payne, 

Mary 91,93 
Philip 91, 93 

Pettit, 
Bethia 34 
John 34 

Pequot War 5 
Plat, Josiah 33 
Piatt, 

Harriet Ives 78 

James P. 78 

Margery 78 

Mary 82 

Richard 25, 27, 28, 82 

Sarah 82, 84 

Pond, Nathan G. 36 
Pond Point 16 



Pottet, 

John 31,34 

Sarah 31, 34 
Prime, 

Martha 34 

James 34 

Rogers, John 87 
Sage, 
Elizabeth 72 
Frances 72 

Henry 72 

Marietta 72 
Saltonstall, Gov. 50 
Schenectady 76 
Scoffield, 

Abigail 34 

Daniel 34, 79 

John 34 

Sarah 26 
Seward, Abigail 76 
Smith, 

Grace 86 

John 35 
Stark, Mary Lee 78 
Stevens, 

.Caroline Newton 78 

Captain 63 
Strong, 

Elder John 85 

Thankful 85 
Sutliff, 

John 51 

Nathaniel 47, 51 
Swathel, John 50 
Talcott, 

Hezekiah 49, 50, 51, 52, 59 

Eunice 52 

I/ieut. Col. John 52 
104 



Talcott, 

Gov. Joseph 52, 60 
Mary 59, 60, 61 

Tallmadge, 
John 93 
Thomas 93 

Taylor, Capt. John 87 
Treat, 

Gov. Robert 43 

Richard 35 

Van Size, Mary E- 75, 76 
Wadsworth, Col. James 58 
Warham, 

Abigail 6, 17, 18, 19, 21 

John I. 6, 7, 8, 17, 18 
Warham 's Mill 6 
War ot the Revolution 58 
Welch, 

Mary 43 

Sarah 84 



Welch, 
Thomas 14, 43, 82, 84 
Hannah 84 

Welch's Point 14 
Weld, Samuel 50 
Welles, 

Elizabeth 56 

Gov. Thomas 65, 87 
Wethersfield 4 
Wheeler, Thomas 15 
Whiting, Mr. 8, 9 
White, PhebeCamp 71 
Whitfield, Rev. Henry 62 
Williams, Roger 9 
Wilmot, Hannah 43 
Windsor 3, 4, 5, 10, 46 
Wolcott, Roger 48 
Woodward, Henry 87 



105 




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MILES MERWIN 



lT7i'— 1859. 



HIS 



Ancestors and Descendants 



PUBLISHED IN MEMORY OF 



Mrs. Phebe Camp Merwin White 



1903. 



PREFACE. 

Phebe C. White left her property to the 
graDdchildren of her father. She had always 
taken a great deal of interest in them. Several 
of these grandchildren agreed to contribute to 
the publishing of a pamphlet giving the names 
of all the descendants of her father, Miles Mer- 
win. The obtaining of necessary data involved 
a large amount of correspondence, and this 
share of the work was done principally by Eliza- 
beth Maddock Noble and Sarah Baldwin Newton, 
It was published in l'J03 in a Hittory of Middle- 
sex County, and the jDublishers furnished pages 
of the sketch suitable for binding. 

Caroline Gaylord (Mrs. Henry Huntington) 
Newton aided in procuring the pictures and hav- 
ing them printed. She also made a more ex- 
tensive examination of the line from the original 
Miles Merwin, Avho came from England, and 
that work is annexed to this. 

In the course of her investigation, she found 
that page 5, being the first page of this book, 
was partly incorrect. Miles Merwin came first 
to Windsor and not to Milford. He did not 
have fifteen children, but twelve; and these by 
two mothers, although he was married three 
times. He was born about 1623 and died at the 
age of seventy- four. 

The special design of this publication is to 



effectuate the wishes of Phebe C. White, that 
the descendants of her father might know and 
be interested in one another; that they might 
remember the precepts and example of their 
forefathers and foremothers, and be good and 
M^orthy citizens, faithful in society and in the 
church. 

It is intended to send a copy of this work to 
each descendant of her father, and I exhort 
them, like their predecessors, to live honestly, 
speak the truth, pay their debts and taxes, be 
faithful to the church, and be true sons and 
daughters of New England. 

Henry G. Newton. 



MILES MERWIN 

HIS ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS 



MERWIN. Miles has been the family 
name for many generations, the first Miles 
Merwin in this coimtry having- come from 
North Wales to Milford, Conn., as early as 
1645. He was born about 1603, and learned 
in England the trade of a tanner. In Milford 
he became the owner of a large tract of land 
on the shore of Long Island Sound, now 
known as Pond Point and Merwin's Point, 
and a part of which is still owned by his de- 
scendants. His gravestone, now standing in 
Milford cemetery, is the only one remaining 
of the early settlers. He lived to be ninety- 
four years of age. He married young, and, 
if the family record is correct, became the fa- 
ther of fifteen children, by three different 
mothers. 

5 



His son Miles, born December 14, 1658, 
married Hannah Wilmot, of Milford. 

Their son Daniel, bom in Milford, mar- 
ried Sarah Botchford, also of Milford, and re- 
moved to Durham, Conn,, about 1721. He 
became prominent in Durham affairs, and is 
called the Hon. Daniel Merwin. He pur- 
chased 100 acres of land for £200 in the north- 
western part of the town, besides 100 acres 
more in Haddam and Middletown, for which 
he paid £500. This land in Durham had nev- 
er been occupied by any white man. and was 
a part of that granted by the General Court to 
Aaron Cook in 1689, the original deed of that 
date being now in the possession of the fam- 
ily, and labeled "Deed of Land in Cogon- 
shake," that being one way of spelling the In- 
dian name (Coginchaug) of the place before 
it was settled as a town. 

Daniel and Sarah Merwin had five children, 
of whom the second son. Miles, was the an- 
cestor of the Durham Merwins, He was 
born March 29, 1721. In May, 1757, he was 
appointed, by the General Assembly, "Cornet 
of the troop of horse in the loth Regiment in 
this Colony," and in May, 1764, was appoint- 

6 




Miles Merwin 

1772-1S59 
Sixth generation 



ed lieutenant in the same regiment. Tlie 
sword which he wore in the French and In- 
dian war, and probably also in the war of the 
Revolution, is still a valued heirloom in the 
possession of his descendants. He may have 
served earlier in some other capacity, as a 
cartridge box marked "Ilnd Comy Xth Regt," 
is still in the possession of his great-great- 
grandson, Miles Talcott Merwin. He married 
Mary Talcott, granddaughter of Col. John Tal- 
cott, one of the original proprietors of Durham, 
and they lived in Durham, in the second house 
north of the factory of the Merriam Manu- 
facturing Company, which he inherited from 
his father, Daniel. They had eight children, 
the first-born being named Miles. 

This Miles, the fifth in line of descent in 
this country, married Mary Parmelee, grand- 
daughter of Joel Parmelee, who was one of the 
first proprietors. They had eleven children, 
the third child and first son receiving the name 
of Miles. 

MILES MERWIN, last mentioned, 
known to the generation now passing as Miles 
Merwin, St., the sixth in line of descent in 

7 



this country, was born in Durham, February 
2, 1772, and died July 31, 1859. 

He Hved in an age when farming was the 
principal occupation, and included most kinds 
of manufacturing, and Durham made nearly 
everything that was used there. The family 
raised their own flax, broke it, spun and wove 
it, and made the cloth into garments. They 
raised the sheep and sheared them. The girls 
carded, spun and wove the wool, and made 
clothes for the men from the cloth. Indus- 
tries were varied, and a successful farmer 
must needs be a good business man. 

In his early youth, a colony of Merwins 
went forth from Durham, Conn., and settled 
a town in Greene county, N. Y., calling it 
Durham after their native village. For many 
years it was his custom to make them an an- 
nual visit, driving with his family 120 miles 
in three days. 

Like his fathers before him, and his de- 
scendants after him, he took his part in the 
world's work. He feared God, but not man ; 
attended church fifty-two Sundays in the year, 
and twice each Sunday; commenced the Sab- 
bath at sundown on Saturday; brought up a 

8 



family of eight children; settled his two sons 
upon farms adjoining his own; and proved 
himself in every Avay a true member of the 
Merwin family, viz., a typical son of New 
England. He ruled over his family, as was 
his right and duty according to the doctrine 
of the age, and was resolute in maintaining 
his position w^hen he knew he was right. His 
children honored him. Let his many descen- 
dants do likewise. 

3.1iles Merwin, Sr., w^as married Novem- 
ber 27, 1794, to Phebe Camp (born February 
4, 1773, died December i, 1812), who was a 
descendant of Nicholas Camp, one of the ear- 
liest settlers in Milford. They had nine chil- 
dren : Aliles, born September 7, 1795, died 
July 17, 1879; Alva, born October 12, 1796, 
died June 3, 1802; Phebe Camp, born March 
31, 1798, died October 8, 1884; Ruth, born 
December 11, 1799, died April 3, 1854; Mary 
Parmelee, born November 12, 1801, died No- 
vember 8, 1873; Alva, born October 29, 1803, 
died May i, 1892; Rhoda, born September 
II, 1805, died November 27, 1868; Noah, 
born June 24, 1807, died May 21, 1849; Nan- 



cy Maria, born ]March 29, 18 10, died Febru- 
ary 9, 1857. 

Two years after the death of the mother 
of his children he was married January 2, 
1 814, to Abigail Seward (born January 30, 
1772, died March 23, 1837). He was again 
married October 11, 1837, to Grace Kirby 
(bom January 17, 1775, died August 13, 
1856), of Cromwell, then known as Middle- 
town Upper Houses. Tlie Merwin homestead, 
an engraving of which appears here, was 
owned and occupied by his father and by him, 
and this sketch principally concerns his de- 
scendants. 

MILES MER\VIN, eldest son of Miles 
and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, known to the 
present generation as Miles Merwin, Jr., was 
the seventh in line of descent in this country. 
He lived in the house built by Samuel Fair- 
child, whereof the chimney bears the date 
"1727," and which stands next east of the 
Merwin home shown in the engraving. While 
still a youth he served in the war of 18 12. 
He Vv-as enterprising and vigorous. He add- 
ed to the occupation of farmer that of drover, 

10 



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bringing each year large droves of cattle 
which he purchased in northem and eastern 
New York. He was influential in the estab- 
lishment of the Merriam Manufacturing Com- 
pany, which has contributed so much during 
more than fifty years to the prosperity of Dur- 
ham. He was a large stockholder at its or- 
ganization, and for many years continued to 
be its first president. In the early days he 
was very frequently called upon to try cases 
before justices, and exhibited much legal tal- 
ent. He especially delighted in a victory over 
Henry B. Harrison, won in the early days of 
his practice in an arbitration case. For a 
long time in the latter part of his life he was 
the trial justice of the town. 

Mr. Merwin was married October 17, 
1 82 1, to Wealthy Sage (born October 22, 
1795, died September 10, 1825). Their chil- 
dren were: Miles Talcott, born October 11, 
1822; Henry Sage, bom July 20, 1824. Mr. 
Merwin married (second) December 21, 
1827, Harriet (White) Keith (born January 
12, 1795, died June 10, 1858). Their chil- 
dren were : Wealthy Sage, born November 
24, 1828; Caroline Ellen, June 28, 1831 (died 

11 



February 19, 1863) ; Phebe Camp, October 
24, 1832 (died January 5, 1869) > Margaret, 
July 10, 1836; Maria White, September 25, 
1839. Mr. Merwin married (third) June 3, 
1863, Mary (Wooster) Leavenworth (born 
July 27, 1806, died March 12 ,1880). 

Miles Talcott Merwin, son of Miles 
Merwin, Jr., and Wealthy (Sage) Merwin, 
and eighth in line of descent, received the name 
of Talcott in memory of his great-great-grand- 
mother, Mary Talcott, w4io was descended 
from Col. John Talcott, of Hartford, one of 
the original proprietors of Durham. His 
business has been mainly that of lumberman 
and farmer, in both of which he has been very 
successful. In 1867 he purchased the larger 
part of a township on the side of Blue Moun- 
tain, in Hamilton county, in the Adirondack's, 
and built there the original "Blue Mountain 
House," overlooking Blue Mountain lake, 
which later was and still is owned by his eldest 
son. Two other sons have also married and 
settled in that region, and he now has three 
sons and thirteen grandchildren there. 

Mr. Merwin has always been a steadfast 
Republican and an unfailing supporter of the 

12 




^ fer'JsB» '-■» 




Miijvs Talcott Merwin 

1 822-1904 

Eighth generation 




- si 






-• i = 

~ 5 5 



church. He has been especially noted for 
his firmness and courage in adversity, taking 
his part wherever it lay without regard to 
praise or blame, and his tenacity in doing his 
work without regard to bodily ailments. Of 
late years he has given his attention entirely 
to the management of his farm in Durham. 

]\Ir. Merwin married November 20, 
1848, Elizabeth Ann Tyler (bom October 21, 
1 82 1, died December 10, 1849), ^"^ their son, 
Miles Tyler, was born November 9, 1849. ^I^- 
Merwin married (second) May 8, 1851, Ellen 
Agnes Foote (born December 14, 1823, died 
March 18, 1889). Their children: Ella 
Elizabeth, born April 17, 1852; Walter Lee. 
March 23, 1854; Benjamin Foote, August 2^, 
1855; Emily Foote, September 17, 1857; 
Ralph Linsley, April 22, i860; Agnes Dick- 
erman. May 16, 1864. 

Miles Tyler Merwin, son of Miles Tal- 
cott and Elizabeth K. (Tyler) Merwin, and 
ninth in line of descent, is the proprietor of the 
"Blue Mountain House," a summer hotel in the 
Adirondacks. He is also engaged in lumbering 
during the winter and operates a sawmill in 
the spring and fall. He has held the office of 

13 



justice of the peace for sixteen years, and jus- 
tice of sessions for six years; also school 
trustee, fire warden, postmaster and other 
minor offices. He is very active in church 
work and has been Sunday-school superinten- 
dent for several years. Benjamin Foote Mer- 
win and Ralph Linsley Merwin, the two 
brothers who followed Miles Tyler to Blue 
Mountain Lake some years later, have been 
connected with the place in carrying on busi- 
ness and holding offices, and are doing their 
share in making "the wilderness blossom as the 
rose." 

Miles Tyler Merwin married Fannie O. 
Barker November 24, 1879, and they have 
five children: Miles Herbert, born August 
3, 1881; Helen Elizabeth, March 20, 1883; 
Russell Lee, June 25, 1886; Gertrude Estelle, 
October 2, 1889; Theodore Edwin, May 5, 
1899. Miles Herbert Merwin, eldest son of 
Miles Tyler Merwin, and tenth in the line of 
descent, is studying for the profession of civil 



engmeer. 



Ella Elizabeth Merwin, Emily Foote Mer- 
win and Agnes Dickerman Merwin, daugh- 
ters of Miles Talcott and Ellen A. (Foote) 

14 




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Wai.tkr Lkh Merwin 

I 854- I 905 

Ninth generation 



Merwin, reside at their father's home in Dur- 
ham. All three were well educated, and have 
been capable and efficient teachers; Ella and 
Emily in Durham and Middletown, and Agnes 
is at present teaching in Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts. 

Walter Lee Merwin, son of Miles Talcott 
and Ellen A. (Foote) Merwin, prepared for 
college at Durham Academy, and graduated 
at Yale in 1878. He was for three years pro- 
fessor of Greek and mathematics in New 
Windsor (Md.) College, then read law with 
Hon. Charles S. McCormick, at Lock Haven, 
Clinton Co., Penn., v.^as admitted to the Bar 
in 1883, and began the practice of law in that 
place. In 1889 he removed to Pittsburg, 
Penn., where he has since been successfully 
engaged in the practice of the law. He mar- 
ried Maria Louise Moore December 24, 1885, 
and they have three children: William Wal- 
ters, born July 11, 1887; Miles Henderson, 
July 22i, 1892; and Margaret Russell, July 30, 

1895- 

Benjamin Foote Merwin, son of Miles 
Talcott and Ellen A. (Foote) Merwin, was 
married to Clara Griffin February 22, 1883. 

15 



Their children are: Grace Clara, born Feb- 
ruary 24, 1SS4; Charles Benjamin, November 
15, 1885; George Barber, January 5. i6Sj; 
Emily Lottie, July 10, 1890; Earl, August 15, 
1893; Milford, September 12. 1895; Benja- 
min Foote, April 12, 1897. 

Ralph Linsley Alenvin, son of ]\Iiles 
Talcott and Ellen A. (Foote) Merwin. mar- 
ried Mary Ella Pascoe December 2, 1887. 
Their children : Walter Cyrus, born June 5, 
1889; Ethel May, born April 12, 1891. died 
July 13, 1894. 

Henry Sage Merwin, son of Miles Mer- 
win, Jr., and Wealthy (Sage) Merwin, re- 
ceived the name of Sage from his mother, who 
was the aunt of Edmund Sage (who married 
Rhoda Merwin), and the great-granddaugh- 
ter of David Sage, the emigrant to this coun- 
try. He is thus a cousin of Russell Sage, the 
New York financier. In his youth he taught 
school four winters, and also spent a year in 
business in Richmond, Virginia. 

Henry S. Merwin married early in life, 
and built a house in Durham, near to those 
occupied by his father and grandfather. He 
has been mainly engaged in farming, and pur- 

16 




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as 1) 

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Henry vSagk :\Ii:k\\in 
Eighth generation 



chased a large amount of land around and near 
his home, including a part of that owned by 
the first Daniel Merwin. His buildings were 
extensive, and he was well known through 
the county, and, to a considerable extent, 
through the State. He continues hale and 
vigorous. 

He exhibited well the Merwin charac- 
teristic of resistance to oppression when an 
attempt was made by State commissioners to 
condemn a pair of line horses. In spite of 
persuasion and threats, to whicli most would 
have succumbed, he maintained his position, 
and two General Assemblies of the State rec- 
ognized that he was right and comxpensated 
him for his expense in the contest; while the 
horses lived on to a good old age, thus set- 
ting at naught the diagnoses of a host of vet- 
erinarians. 

Mr. Merwin was married May i6, iS-iS, 
to Sylvia Minerva Merriam (bom March 20, 
1827, died September 20, 19CX)), of Meriden, 
Conn. Their children : Asaph Merriam, 
born November 2, 1849; Sylvia Elizabeth, 
July 5, 185 1 ; Elisha Sage, October 29, 1853 

(died December 22, 1853) ; Frank Howard, 

2 

17 



September 25, 1855 (died August 30, 1873) » 
Arthur Henry, June 18, i860; William Page, 
October 13, 1862 (died January 4, 1866) . 

Asaph Merriam Merwin, eldest son of 
Henry S. and Sylvia M. (jMerriam) Merwin, 
left his father's farm in 1872, and for eight- 
een years was engaged in the manufacture of 
building brick, near Perth Amboy, N. J. In 
1S90, he returned to Durham, and two years 
later purchased the family homestead, fonner- 
ly owned by his grandfather, where he is en- 
gaged in farming and poultry raising. He 
married Mary Ball Tappan, of Elizabeth, N. 
J., September 20, 1877, and they have one 
son, Harry Merriam Merwin, who was born 
at Perth Amboy, January 14, 1886. 

Sylvia Elizabeth Menvin, daughter of 
Henry S. and Sylvia M. (Merriam) Mer- 
win, was a teacher for several years, being a 
graduate of the State Normal School at New 
Britain in 1874, and her eldest daughter is 
now taking a course in the same school. She 
w^as married May 19, 1880, to William Curtis 
Barhite, now merchant and postmaster in 
Ridgefield, Conn. Their children : Sylvia 
vlaria, born ]\Iarch 17, 1882; Helen lola, 

18 



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March 12, 1884; Emma Agnes, October i, 
1887. 

Frank Howard Merwin, son of Henry S. 
and Sylvia M. (Merriam) Mferwin, was edu- 
cated at Durham Academy. Faithful and 
reliable, he was becoming of much use in the 
family and the church. He was drowned 
while bathing in the mill pond on Allan's 
brook, near the center of the town, when near- 
ly eighteen years of age. The bearers at his 
funeral were the six other members of the Bi- 
ble class to which he belonged, all seven of the 
young men having united with the church 
about a year previous. 

, Arthur Henry Merwin, son of Henry 
S. and Sylvia M. (Merriam) Merwin, was 
with his father extensively engaged in farm- 
ing in Durham, and was also for several years 
deputy sheriff of Middlesex county. In 1900 
he removed to New Haven, where he now re- 
sides. He married Kate A. Bailey, of Hig- 
ganum. Conn., December 20, 1883. Their 
children: Phebe White, born October 6, 
1884; Ruth Ella, April 17, 1887 (died April 
30, 1891); Edna Althea, Mferch 9, 1889; El- 
sie Margaret,. June 5, 1891 ; Myra, June 20, 

1895. 

19 



Wealthy Sage JMerwin, daugliter of 
Mi'es Merwin, Jr., and Harriet (White) Mer- 
win, was engaged in teaching for ten years, in 
Durham, Conn., and in Morristown, X. J. 
She is a member of the Daughters of the 
American Revohition. She was married De- 
cember 5, 1858, to John Ives (born December 
25, 1825), of Meriden, Conn., senior member 
of the firm of Ives, Upham & Rand. Their 
children: Leland Howard, bom October 16, 
1859; Harriet White, lx)rn September 14, 
1861. 

Leland Howard Ives, son of John and 
Wealthy S. (Merwin) Ives, is connected with 
his father in the dry-goods business in Aleri- 
den, and is also engaged in the care of real 
estate. 

Harriet White Ives, daughter of John 
and Wealthy S. (Merwin) Ives, was mar- 
ried December 2, 1885, to James Perry Piatt, 
of Meriden, Conn., Judge of the United States 
District Court, and son of O. H. Piatt, Unit- 
ed States senator. They have had two chil- 
dren: Margery, bom December 30, 1886; 
and James Perry, Jr., born February 20, 
1889, who died July 19, of the same year. 

20 




WEAi/fHY vSage Merwin Ives 
Eighth j^ciieration 




John Ives. 




lyKLAND Howard Ivi;,s 
Ninth generation 




Harrikt Whiti'; Ivks Platt 
Ninth generation 




U. vS. Juixviv Jamk.s Phkr\- Pi^aTT 

Ninth in dt-sceiit from Rijhanl I'latt 

who came from Kns'laiKl in 1638 




Margkrv Pi.att 
Tenth generation 



Caroline Merwin, second daughter of 
Miles, Jr., and Harriet (White) Merwin, 
spent most of her Hfe at her father's home in 
Durham. She was always thoughtful for the 
comfort of others, possessing ability and good 
judgment, and w^as a favorite among her sis- 
ters, who considered her mtich like their Aunt 
Phebe White. Through a long illness of ten 
years she was bright and cheerful. She died 
at the age of thirty-one, at the home of her 
sister in Meriden. where she passed the last 
two years of her life, 

Phebe Camp Merwin, daughter of Miles 
Merwin, Jr., and Harriet (White) Merwin, 
was married in April, 1853, to Gershom Bird- 
sey (born ]\Iay 5, 1832, died September 2, 
1856), of Meriden, Conn. Their son, Eddie, 
was born January 15, 1856. and died August 
15, of the same year. Phebe C. (Mer- 
win) Birdsey was married (second) in Jan- 
uary, 1 86 1, to Abner Canfield Wetmore, of 
Meriden, Conn. Their children: Martha 
Scovil, born October 8, 1861 ; Julia Merwin, 
born April 20, 1868. 

]\Iartha Scovil Wetmore, daughter of Ab- 
ner C. and Phebe C. (Merwin) Wetmore, 

21 



was for three years a pupil at Mt. Holyoke 
Seminary. She left the Seminary after the 
death of her father, in 1883, and has been a 
teacher for seventeen years in the schools of 
Meriden. 

Julia Merwin Wetmore, daughter of Al>- 
ner C. and Phebe C. (Merwin) Wetmore, 
was married to William L. Hatch April 3, 
1889, and their son, Harold Wetmore, was 
bom January 24, 1890. 

Margaret Merwin, daughter of Miles 
Merwin, Jr., and Harriet (White) Merwin, 
w^as a pupil at Mt. Holyoke Seminary, and 
was for thirteen years a teacher in the schools 
of Durham, Meriden and New Haven. She 
was married April 2, 1870, to Abner Can- 
field Wetmore (born October 21, 181 5. died 
June 3, 1883), of Meriden, Conn. Their 
daughter, Fannie Canfield, was born April 8, 
1876. 

Fannie Canfield Wetmore, only daugh- 
ter of Abner C. and Margaret (Merwin) Wet- 
more, resides with her mother in Meriden. 
She has had a business education and has been 
for seven years in the office of the C. F. Monroe 
Company, manufacturers of cut glass, in Meri- 
den. 

22 




Katharine Eaton Bi,ack Safford 
Tenth generation 



Maria White Merv/in, youngest daugh- 
ter of Miles Merwin, Jr., and Harriet 
(White) Merwin, was married July 31, 1865, 
to Edwin Jerome Black (born August 4, 
1841), who served in the Civil war, as a 
member of Company D, Twentieth Regiment, 
Connecticut Volunteers, being one year with 
the Army of the Potomac, and two years with 
Sherman's Army in the Southwest. They 
now reside in Rockfall, Conn. Their children: 
William Jerome, born February 13, 1867; 
Carrie Phebe, bom October 23, 1870, 

William Jerome Black, son of Edwin J. 
and Maria W. (Merwin) Black, served 
three years in the regular army, then 
enlisted at New Orleans in the Second Lou- 
isiana Regiment, and served in Cuba during 
the Spanish war. 

Carrie Phebe Black, daughter of Edwin 
J. and Maria W. (Merwin) Black, was mar- 
ried to Edward Safford in May 188S; and 
their daughter, Katie Eaton, was bom in July, 
1889. 

PHEBE CAMP MERWIN, daughter of 
Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Mer- 

23 



win, was fourteen years of age wlien her 
mother died, leaving her the eldest of six 
daughters and next to the eldest in a family of 
eight children. Thus early in life placed in 
a responsible position as head of her father's 
household, she developed great decision of 
character and executive ability. Two years 
later, when relieved of the burden by the com- 
ing of a stepmother, she resumed her place as 
a dutiful daughter and loving sister, until most 
of her brothers and sisters were settled in life; 
then, on October 5, 1836, she was united in 
marriage to Seymour White (born in 1794, 
died March 18, 1838), of her native town, 
who was engaged in the shoemaking business. 
Mrs. White's wedded life was of brief duration. 
She returned to her father's house after the 
death of her husband, and some months later 
was offered the position of matron of the Asy- 
lum for the Deaf at Hartford. She assumed its 
duties in the autumn of 1839, with many mis- 
givings, but for thirty-two years filled the po- 
sition with "rare fidelity, devotion and suc- 



cess." 



The high esteem in which she was held 
is shown by the following extract from the 

24 





S^Ce^ (^.^^.:^ 



"Annals of the Deaf and Dumb/' puiblished at 
Washington, D. C. : "Mrs. White was a 
woman of great equanimity, common sense 
and large charity for all, with rare poise of 
Christian character. Prompt, energetic, firm, 
kind, she ruled the servants with a strong yet 
gentle hand, and no negligence was tolerated 
in her department of the Asylum. To the 
teachers and other officers she was ever courte- 
ous and kind — a trusted counsellor and friend ; 
to the pupils she was a faithful, wise, ju- 
dicious mother, winning the love and respect 
of all; and the hundreds of graduates whom 
she has watched over and befriended will ever 
keep her in affectionate remembrance." 

In the autumn of 1871, at the age of sev- 
enty-three, Mrs. White resigned her position 
and returned to the home of her childhood, 
there to pass her remaining years. She out- 
lived all her brothers and sisters except one, 
a widowed sister, who came to be a companion 
for her in the house in which they were born. 
Here, for thirteen years, "surrounded by a 
large circle of relatives and friends, her Chris- 
tian character bore richest fruit in large-heart- 
ed benevolence and charity." 

25 



Mrs. White was always interested in 
church and Sunday-school work, and, at the 
time of her death was still a member of the 
Bible class. Upon the organization of the 
first Sunday-school in Durham, about 1818, 
she was the female superintendent. Sixty 
years later she gave a cabinet organ to the same 
school, and in her will left a fund to provide a 
yearly addition to its Iibrar>'. She also left 
by will a gift to the church which became the 
nucleus of the fund for the building of the 
parlors, which are now so important in its so- 
cial life. She remembered, also, the benevolent 
societies of the Congregational Churches. 

Mrs. White ever maintained a lively in- 
terest in the members and numerous descend- 
ants of her father's family, and her advice and 
aid were often sought and freely given. Al- 
ways generous and helpful to them during her 
life, she was also enabled by economy and pru- 
dence in the management of her income, to 
leave by will a substantial legacy to each of 
her twenty nephews and nieces. 

This sketch of the Merwin family is in- 
serted here through the contributions of her 
nephews and nieces, as a token of their appre- 

26 



elation of ber thoughtful and loving remem- 
brance of them, and in the hope that it may 
cause her to be kept in mind, and assist in 
maintaining among succeeding generations 
the recognition of relationship and interest in 
each other which she did so much to foster, 
and vvhich has characterized those of our time. 

RUTH MERWIN, daughter of Miles 
Mei-win, St., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, 
was married September 28, 1829, to James 
Edward Lee (born October 20, 1800, died 
November 18, 1889), who occupied the 
farm in Guilford, Conn., which has been in the 
possession of his family since the settlement of 
the town. Here she resided with her husband 
until her death, which occurred twenty-five 
years later. 

Before her marriage she learned the mil- 
liner's trade in Middletown, Conn., and was 
for some years engaged in that business. She 
was a devoted wife and mother, loving and 
tender, self-sacrificing to a fault, and her 
Christian character impressed itself upon all 
with whom she was connected. ' Her early 
married life was saddened by the loss of their 

27 



first three children. Charlotte Elizabeth, Ed- 
ward Merwin and William Henry, who died in 
infancy. Their other children were: Mary 
Elizabeth, born July 20, 1833; Edward Mer- 
win, August 23, 1835; Ellen Maria, April 7, 
1839; William Henry, July 15, 1841 ; Charles 
Gilbert, January 31, 1843 (died March 6, 

1865). 

Mary Elizabeth Lee, daughter of James 
E. and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, was educated at 
Guilford Institute, and was for several years 
a teacher, also an author. She was married at 
Cheyenne, Wyo., Septeml)er 30, 1874, to Prof. 
N. E. Stark, who was school commissioner 
for New Hampshire four years, and principal 
of schools in Cheyenne for thirteen years. 
Their son, Edwfard Thayer, was born at Chey- 
enne, October 28, 1875. 

Edward Thayer Stark, son of N. E. and 
Mary E. (Lee) Stark, is a graduate of Wyo- 
ming University, 1899. He was married Sep- 
tember 26, 1901, to Amanda Needles, of Atlan- 
tic, Iowa, and is now telephone inspector in 
Denver, Colorado. 

Edward Merwin Lee, son of James E. 
and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, is a lawyer by pro- 

28 




I\Iar\' Ivi.izAiiKTH Ijac vSTAKK 
Kightli generation 




Edward Mickwin I^EE 

Colonel 5th Mich. Cavalry, U. S. V. 

Brigadier General 

Eighth generation 



fession, admitted to the Bar in New York in 
1 86 1, and in the United States Supreme Court 
in 1865. He served through the Civil war, 
becoming a private in the Fifth Michigan Cav- 
alry, was promoted through the different 
grades to captain, heutenant colonel and col- 
onel in the same regiment, and afterward brev- 
etted brigadier general. For fourteen months 
he was in Libby and other military prisons, 
where his cheerfulness and courage aided much 
in keeping up the spirits of his comrades. 

Gen. Lee represented Guilford in the Gen- 
eral Assembly in 1866 and 1867; organized 
Wyoming Territory in 1869, as secretary and 
acting governor; secured the passage of the 
Woman Suffrage Law there, and appointed 
women to office; and has made political 
speeches in all National and some State cam- 
paigns from 1865 to 1892, over a thousand in 
all. For the last twenty-five years he has been 
engaged in the practice of law in New York 
City. 

Ellen Maria Lee, daughter of James E. 
and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, was educated at 
Guilford Listitute, and, like her sister, became 
a teacher and author. She was married Octo- 

29 



ber 20, 1864, to Samuel Allen Bristol (born 
October 7, 1841), of Guilford, Conn., who 
served nine months in the Civil war, as a mem- 
ber of the Twenty-seventh Regiment, Con- 
necticut Volunteers, and was for two weeks 
in Libby prison. They removed in 1869 to 
Cheyenne, Wyo., where he established and 
now conducts, as president, the S. A. Bristol 
Publishing Company. Their children: Kate, 
born in Guilford May 27, 1865 ; Edward Mer- 
win Lee, born in Cheyenne November 15, 
1869; Sara, born in Guilford August 29, 187 1 ; 
Charles Allen, born in Cheyenne Februar^^ 13, 
1874; Ruth, born in Cheyenne October 28, 
1877 (died March 19, 1880) ; Ellen, born in 
Cheyenne November 13, 1879. 

Kate Bristol, daughter of S. Allen and 
Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, was married Septem- 
ber 20, 1887, to John Knox Wade (bom De- 
cember 3, 1 861, died May 17, 1892) ; their son, 
John Knox, born December 9, 1888, died Au- 
gust 12, 1890; their daughter, Kate, was born 
August 4, 1 89 1. 

Edward Merwin Lee Bristol, son of S. 
Allen and Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, a printer by 
trade, was married September 30, 1890, to 

30 




William Hkxrv Lkk 

Co. B.. 16II1 Regt., C. V. 

Eighth generation 



Margaret Morrison (born April 25, 1868), at 
Cheyenne. Tlieir children: Francis Sistere, 
bom Septeinber 30, 1891 ; John Allen, June 2^, 
1895 ; William Merwin, January- 2, 1898. 

Sara Bristol, daughter of S. Allen and 
Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, was married Septem- 
ber 18, 1895, to William Curtiss Mains (born 
September 3, 1871 ) , of Brooklyn, N. Y. Their 
daughter, Margaret, born June 29, 1900, died 
October 4, 1 901, at Mt. Vernon, New York. 

Charles Allen Bristol, son of S. Allen 
and Ellen M. (Lee) Bristol, a book binder by 
trade, enlisted in May, 1898, in Battery A, Wy- 
oming Light Artillery, United States Volun- 
teers, and served as second lieutenant in that 
battery during the campaign in the Philippines, 
until honorably discharged and mustered out 
in September, 1899. He married Daze May 
McCabe, of Cheyenne, April 18, i960. 

William Henry Lee, son of James E. 
and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, served in the Civil 
war, enlisting in 1862, in Company B, Six- 
teenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, and 
was discharged for disability in 1863. He is 
a farmer in Guilford, and represented that 
tov.-n in the General Assembly in 1886. He 

31 



was a. charter member of the Guilford Bat- 
tery, and remained a member for twenty } cors, 
being corporal, second lieutenant, and for more 
than four years its first captain. He married 
Mary Elizabeth Grisvwld, of Mystic, Conn., 
November 21, 1867. Their children: Ruth 
Mary, born July 28, 1869; Charles Sherman, 
November 12, 1870; Edward Merwin, Decem- 
ber I, 1872 (died August 10, 1892) ; William 
Randall, February 14, 1876; Albert Clifford, 
August 5, 1883. 

Ruth Mary Lee, daughter O'f William H. 
and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, married Addi- 
son E^rle Baldwin, of Branford, Conn., April 
5, 1893. Their children are: Dorothy Rae, 
bom June i, 1895; Harriet Carpenter, born 
July I, 1900. 

Charles Sherman Lee, son of William 
H. and Alary E. (Griswold) Lee, was for 
seven years a member of Battery A, Connecti- 
cut National Guard, and for five years of the 
Connecticut Naval Reserves. At the outbreak 
of the Spanish war he enlisted as seaman in 
the United States Navy, and was honorably 
discharged at the close of the war. He is now 
a member of Company F, Second Regiment. 

32 




Chaki.hs CVii.bkkt Lkk 

Co. B., i6th Reg., C. V. 

I 843 -I 865 

Eighth generation 



Connecticut National Guard (New Haven 
Grays). He is engaged in manufacturing in 
New Haven. 

Edward Merwin Lee, son of William H. 
and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, was a graduate 
of Guilford Institute, in 1890. He was a 
bright scholar and a great favorite. He was 
for a time employed in Meriden, and after- 
ward entered the wholesale house of Charles 
G. Kimberly in New Haven. There, a few 
months later, he received injuries, by falling 
down an elevator shaft, which resulted in his 
death. 

William Randall Lee, son of William 
H. and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, with his 
brother Charles S. served in the navy during 
the Spanish war, and is now a member of the 
Connecticut Naval Reserves. He was married 
November 28, 1900, to Lucy Foote, of Guil- 
ford, Conn., and is engaged in manufacturing 
in New Haven. 

Albert Clifford Lee, yoimgest son of 
William H. and Mary E. (Griswold) Lee, still 
remains on the farm with his father. 

Charles Gilbert Lee, son of James E. 
and Ruth (Merwin) Lee, served in the Civil 

33 



war, enlisting in Company B, Sixteenth Reg- 
iment, Connecticut Volunteers. He was made 
corporal August ii, 1863; was in several bat- 
tles; captured with his regiment at Plymouth, 
N. C, April 20, 1864; a prisoner at Anderson- 
ville nine months; and died March 6, 1865, 
at Wilmington, N. C, from the effects of his 
imprisonment. 

The following poem relating to the two 
brothers, William H. and Charles G. Lee, at 
Antietam, was written by Susie E. Ward, their 
former teacher at the Guilford Institute: 

What the Sick Soldier Told Me. 

The surgeon said "Remain," but somehow I could not 

stay, 
For the order had been given, and the boys were on their 

way; 
And thinking on the morrow's fight, I saw my brother 

stand. 
Calm in battle, as he used to be, when plowing father's 

land; 
Or I saw him falling, wounded, or lying ghastly — 

dead; 
From my bed of straw upspringing, "I am going too," I 

said. 

So I hurried on just after; on the ground at night we lay. 
And I felt his arm about me in the old accustomed way; 
But when morning came, quick-footed, and our ranks in 
order stood, 

34 



He was twenty paces from me: Oh, how boiled my 

fevered blood! 
Placed so near him, yet not with him, 'twixt us two a 

score of others, 
Till the men passed me down the line, for they knew 

that we were brothers. 

Did you ask how went the battle? Why, we lost the day, 
you know, 

And at last, when we retreated, I tried hard but could 

not go. 
Sick at heart and sick in body, I was falling to the ground, 
But Charley was beside me, his dear arm about me wound ;' 
Whileone comrade took our muskets, passed our knap- 
sacks on toothers. 
That he might be strong to help me, for they knew that 
we were brothers. 

O Christian, fellow Christian, is it so with you and me. 
Children of one Heavenly Father, members of one 
family? 

Do we live a love so simple? Is a strong arm ever 
thrown 

Round him whose faltering footsteps show his strength 
is almost gone ? 

And when worldly hearts press onward, blindly parting 

us from others, 
Do their dense ranks quickly step aside, knowing that 

we all are brothers? 

MARY PARMELEE IMERWIN, daugh- 
ter of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) 
Merwin, was married April 27, 1824, to 
Thomas Noble (born April 2'j, 1797, died 

35 



January 20, 1854), of Westfield, Mass., where 
his ancestors had Hved for several genera- 
tions. They remained in Westfield until 
1 84 1, when they removed to Granville, Mass. 
In 1843 t^'^^y removed to Cromwell, Conn., 
remaining there until Mr. Noble's death, 
which occurred eleven years later. A few 
months after the death of her husband, Mrs. 
Noble, with her younger daughter, returned 
to Durham to care for her aged father^ where 
she remained until a few weeks before her 
death, when she was taken, in failing health, 
to the home of her sister Alva, in Cromwell, 
where she died at the age of seventy-two. 

Before her marriage she learned the tail- 
or's trade in Middletown, Conn. Wherever 
she lived she always made herself useful in 
church work and in the neighborhood, being 
one of the reliable and efficient persons whose 
aid was sought in case of sickness or death, 
or any emergency ; and she had frequent oc- 
casion for the exercise of her talents among 
her kinsmen and acquaintances. 

Their children : William Merwin, born 
February 2, 1825; Mary Amelia, May 29, 
1827 (died January 22, 1886) ; Thomas, May 

36 




\\'ir.i,iA.M Mkrwin Nobi.k 

1825-1906 

Eighth generation 




Cl.AKA AdKI.IA NoHIvK 

Emma Amklia Nobi,e 
Ninth generation 



22^, 183 1 ; MerAvin Lee, September 2, 1834 
(died August 20, 1S53) 5 Charlotte Ellen, De- 
cember 23, 1846 (died February 8, 1866). 

WiiLiAM Merwin Noble, son of Thomas 
and Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, was engaged 
for thirty-five years in the manufacture of 
hammers at Cromwell, Conn., under the firm 
name of Warner & Noble. During the years 
of his active life he was one of the leading 
men of the town, and has held different town 
offices. He was married May 8, 1850, to Al- 
mira Parmelee Mildrum (born June 19, 1826, 
died January 26, 1891 ) . Their children : Ar- 
thur William, born May 29, 185 1; Clara 
Adelia and Emma Amelia (twins), March 10, 
1853; Edward Shepard, April 29, 1858; 
Robert Mildrum, March 16, i860; William 
Cleveland, October 2, 1869. 

Arthur William Noble, son of William 
M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) Noble, has been 
for many years in the hardware business at 
Riceville, Iowa. In the great fire which oc- 
curred there July 20, 1901, when more than 
fifty places of business were burned, his store 
and dwelling house were both destroyed. He 
married Laura Anna Pierce, May 12, 1896. 



Their daughter, Julia Charlotte, was born 
April 5, 1898, and their son, Lucius Pierce, 
born February 22, 1902, died three days after 
birth. 

Clara Adelia Noble, daughter of William 
M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) Noble, was mar- 
ried October 20, 1874, to Daniel Webster, of 
Berlin, Conn. Their children : Mary Emma, 
born June 21, 1S79; Helen, May 26, 1881 
(died September 6, 1882) ; Hattie Louise, De- 
cember 14, 1883; William John, October 21, 
1886; Stewart Noble, July 31, 1888; Gertrude, 
February 5, 1891. 

Einma Amelia Noble, daughter of Will- 
iam M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) Noble, with 
the exception of a few years spent in the West 
with her brothers, has always lived at the 
home of her father in Cromwell. 

Edward Shepard Noble, son of William 
I\I. and Almira P. (JNIildrum) Nc^ble, resides 
in Cromwell, and has been for twelve years 
with the Peck, Stovv' & Wilcox Company, ii^ 
East Berlin. Fie was married May 17, 
18S2, to Minnie Augusta Griswold, of Crom- 
well. Tliey have had three children : Har- 
old Beaumont, born November 27, 1887, 

38 




(iAVLOKD KiMBALI. NOKI.K 
1 889- 1 908 

Tenth generation 




w 

►4 

o 



W 
« 
O 

t/i 

p.5 



w 


o 


►J 


-*-» 


K 


CO 


O 


4; 


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OJ 


t-' 


M 






M 


^ 


en 


V 




Robert Mildrum Nobi,e 
Ninth generation 



died August 29, 1888; Le Roy Beaumont was 
born June 17, 1891 ; Howard Edward, born 
March i, 1896, died August 22, of the same 
year. 

Robert Mildrum Noble, son of WilHam 
M. and Ahnira P. (Mildrum) Noble, con- 
ducts a hardware store in Riceville, Iowa, and 
is also engaged in the sale of musical instru- 
ments. He was married June 27, 1888, to 
Elizabeth Sumner Kimball, of Wentworth, 
Iowa. Their children : Gaylord Kimball, born 
July I, 1889; Douglas, December 22, 1894 
(died January 2, 1895) ; Robert Mildrum, Jr., 
April II, 1896; Curtis Cleveland, December 
27, 1898; Isabel, July 8, 1902. 

William Cle\'eland Noble, youngest son 
of William M. and Almira P. (Mildrum) No- 
ble, is living in Cromwell, and has been for 
several years in the employ of the Peck, Stow 
& Wilcox Company, of East Berlin. He was 
married to Mary Frances Hill, July 6, 1898. 
Their son, Kenneth Hill, was born April 3, 
1899. 

Mary Amelia Noble, daughter of Thom- 
as and Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, married 
Henry Arnold, of Westfield, Mass., in 1848. 

39 



He went to California in 1849, ^"^ engaged 
in mining, returning home after a few years. 
In 1855 he again went to CaHfornia, accom- 
panied by his wife. They remained there 
fourteen years, in 1869 returning to Connec- 
ticut with their two sons and settling in Had- 
dam. Their children : Edward Clark, born 
June 5, 1856, and Frank Hubbard, born Jan- 
uary 13, 1858, at Woolsey Flat, Nevada Co., 
Cal. ; two other sons, Charles and Henry, who 
died in infancy, were born at Lake City, Cali- 
fornia. 

Edward Clark Arnold, son of Henry and 
Mary A. (Noble") Arnold, w-as educated at 
the Middletown High School, at Westfield, 
(Mass.) Academy, and at Williston Acad- 
emy, Mass., of vvhich latter he is a graduate. 
He resides in New York City, where for many 
years he has held the position of advertising 
manager for the Chautauquan Magazine. 

Frank Hubbard Arnold, son of Henry 
and Mary A. (Noble ) Arnold, resides in \Va- 
terbury, Conn., where he is employed in the 
large brass factory of Benedict & Burnham. 
He was married December 27, 1890, to Maiy 
Hazen, of Haddam, Connecticut. 

40 




Thomas Noblk Elizabeth M. Noble 

Sarah E. Nohlk Thomas H. Noble 

Eighth and Ninth Generation 



Thomas Noble, son of Thomas and Mary 
P. (]\I^rwin) Noble, removed with his fath- 
er's family to Cromwell, Conn., when twelve 
years of age. In 1857, he w^nt to California, 
crossing the Isthmus, and engaged first in 
mining, and afterward for six years in the 
hotel business as partner with his brother-in- 
law, Henry Arnold. Later they engaged in 
the same business for three years in Nevada. 
Mr. Nohle returned by the same route, in 
1869, to Cromwell, where he has since resided, 
engaged principally in farming and dairying, 
and is now president of the Cromwell Cream- 
ery Association. He and his family are 
members of the Congregational Church, and 
for several years he has had charge of the 
financial matters of the Ecclesiatical Society, 
and has also been its clerk and treasurer. 
With fine musical taste and voice, he has been 
prominent for many years in the music of the 
church and Sunday-school. He married April 
13, 1870, Elizabeth M. (Baldwin) Belden, 
of Cromwell. Their children : Sarah El- 
len, born May 27, 1871 ; Thomas Henry, born 
November 20, 1875. 

Sarah Ellen Noble, daughter of Tliomas 

41 



and Elizabeth M. (Baldwin) Noble, has al- 
ways lived in Cromwell. She inherits her 
father's taste for music, and like him is use- 
ful in the Sunday-scliool and the choir, as 
well as the social life of the church. 

Thomas Henry Noble, son of Thomas 
and Elizabeth M. (Baldwin) Noble, is eighth 
in the line of descent, and seventh of the 
name, from Thomas Noble, the emigrant an- 
cestor, who died in Westfield, Mass., in 1704, 
He has always resided in Cromwell, except a 
few years which he passed in New Haven as 
stenographer for Judge William K. Town- 
send. He is now employed as stenographer 
with the J. & E, Stevens Company, in Crom- 
well. 

Merwin Lee Noble, son of Thomas and 
Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, was an ambitious 
scholar, and was preparing for Yale College 
at Monson (Mass.) Academy, but during a va- 
cation was drowned, while bathing in Long 
Island Sound, off Madison, Connecticut. 

Charlotte Ellen Noble, daughter of 
Thomas and Mary P. (Merwin) Noble, re- 
moved with her mother from Cromwell to the 
Merwin homestead in Durham when about 

42 



eight years of age. She, like her older 
brothers and sister, was of a very lively tem- 
perament, learned readily, and had a retentive 
memory. She was the youngest granddaugh- 
ter, and her presence made the Merwin home- 
stead an attractive place for the many cousins 
who were slightly older. She died at the age 
of nineteen, from diphtheria contracted while 
caring for a young cousin of the next genera- 
tion. 

ALVA MERWIN, daughter of Miles 
Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, was 
married September 17, 1822, to Isaac Stebbins 
Baldwin (born July 17, 1800, died April 11, 
1871). They resided in Durham until Oc- 
tober, 1834, when they removed with their 
two children to Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. 
Y., and one year later to Norwich, N. Y. 
There their son Lyman, a boy of great prom- 
ise, was drowned at the age of eleven years. 

In November, 185 1, they returned to their 
native State, locating in Cromwell. After the 
death of her husband nearly twenty years later, 
M>rs. Baldwin lived for several years with her 
sister, Mrs. White, at the Merwin homestead 

43 



in Dnirham, returning to her Cromwell home 
in 1884. Always kindly, cheerful and 
hospitable, her house was a favorite resort of 
her nephews and nieces, as well as her chil- 
dren, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 
She retained much of her physical and mental 
vigor to the last, and enjoyed to its close a 
life of continuous activity and usefulness. 
Her death, at the age of eighty-eight years, 
occurred on the fifty-ninth anniversary of the 
great accession to the church in Durham, dur- 
ing the ministry of Henry Gleason, at which 
time she became a member of that church. 
Their children : Mary Elizabeth, born Decem- 
ber 28, 1823; Lyman Merwin, February 2, 
1827 (died June i, 1838) ; Henry Merwin, 
June 21, 1840 (died May 2, 1864) ; Sarah 
Allen, February 14, 1846. 

Mary Elizabeth Baldwin, daughter of 
Isaac S. and Alva (Merwin) Baldwin, mar- 
ried April 5, 1842, James Maddock (born in 
1 8 16, died November 5, 1843), ^t Norwich, 
N. Y. Their daughter, Elizabeth Maddock, 
was born January 24, 1843. After the death 
of her father she lived with her mother's pa- 
rents, taking the name of Baldwin. 

44 




Mary EIvIzaekxh Baldwin Vaxsizh 

1823-1905 

Eighth generation 



Mary E. (Baldwin) Maddock was mar- 
ried (second) August 26, 1845, ^ Ebenezer 
Hibbard Vansize (born January 10, 1822, 
died April 17, 1893). In 1850, they re- 
moved from Norwich to Utica, where Mrs. 
Vansize is now Hving, in the house which 
she has occupied for more than half a 
century. She is a constant attendant at church 
and Sunday-school, faithful to the prayer-meet- 
ing, and active in church and charitable work. 
Their children : William Baldwin, born April 
8, 1853; Catherine Hibbard, March 21, i860 
(died April 10, of the same year) ; Hibbard 
K"imball, June 20, 1864; Mary Merwin, De- 
cember 5, 1865 (died September 10, 1866). 

Elizabeth Maddock Baldwin, daughter of 
James and Mary E. (Baldwin) Maddock, was 
married December 25, 1863, to Lewis Bel- 
den (died August 7, 1864), of Rocky Hill, 
Conn., who served in the Civil war in Com- 
pany H, First Connecticut Heavy Artillery, 
and died in the service August 7,1864. She 
married (second) April 13, 1870, Thomas No- 
ble, of Cromwell, Conn., and they have two 
children, as before mentioned. 

William Baldwin Vansize, son of Eben- 

45 



ezer H. and Mary E. (Baldwin) Vansize, has 
been engaged in various applications of elec- 
tricity to the useful arts, including the tele- 
graph and telephone. He studied law, and 
was admitted to the Bar in New York State 
in 1879, and has since practiced as a patent 
lawyer and expert in New York City. He 
was married September 22, 1874, to Marian 
G. Fellows, of Albany, N. Y. She died in 
1893, and he subsequently married Amelia 
Ridout, of New York City, and, at present, 
resides in Brookl)^i, New York. 

Hibbard Kimball Vansize, son of Eben- 
ezer H. and Mary E. (Baldwin) Vansize, has 
been for twenty vears connected with the 
Oneida National Bank of Utica, N. Y. He 
began as corresponding clerk in 1882, and is 
now paying teller. He married Cora Mary 
Norton, December 8, 1887. Their daughter, 
Mary Mildred, was born August 9, 1891. 

Henry Merwin Baldwin, son of Isaac 
S. and Alva (Merwin) Baldwin, served in 
the Civil war enlisting in Company C, Sev- 
enth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. He 
was severely wounded in the battle of Olustee, 
Fla., February 20, 1864, and after two 

46 




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< 
pq 






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n 
o 







Si 



o 
w 



15 

Q 

i-r 
pa 

< 



months spent in the hospital at Beaufort, S. 
C, was given a furlough, and went to his 
home at Cromwell, Conn., where he died from 
illness ten days later. 

Sarah Allen Baldwin, daughter of Is- 
aac S. and Alva (Merwin) Baldwin, was mar- 
ried to Henry G. Newton (mentioned below) 
September ii, 1885. For several years she 
was a teacher, and later studied medicine, and 
was graduated in 1885 from the New York 
Medical College for Women. She has prac- 
ticed her profession but little, but is actively 
interested in matters of church, education and 
charity in New Haven, where she now. re- 
sides. She is chainnan of the Woman's De- 
partment of the City Missionary Association 
of New Haven ; chairman of the visiting com- 
mittee of the New Haven Woman's School 
Association; a member of the executive com- 
mittee of the Home for the Friendless, and of 
the board of managers of the Elm City Kin- 
dergarten Association ; one of the original in- 
corporators named in the charter of Grace 
Hospital ; a member of the outlook committee 
of Plymouth Church, and secretary of the 
Home Department of its Sunday-school; and 



47 



the first woman ever registered as a voter in 
Connecticut. 

RHODA MERWIN, daughter of Miles 
Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, was 
married June 28, 1829, to Edmund Sage (born 
July 3, 1804, died May 4, 1878), of Cromwell, 
Conn., who owned and managed a large farm 
on the main turnpike between Hartford and 
New Haven. The six daughters of Miles 
Merwin, Sr., always had a very strong affec- 
tion for each other. As their children grew 
up visits between the families were frequent, 
and children as well as adults looked upon 
these gatherings as a great event in their lives. 
Many such meetings were held in the spacious 
Sage home, and "Aunt Rhoda" was a house- 
hold word among her sisters' children. 

In later years another sister, Mary, and 
afterward Alva, with their families, settleid 
in Cromwell, all living within a half mile of 
each other, making it a favorite rallying place 
for the others, and the scene of many festive 
occasions. The three sisters, as well as their 
husbands and children, were good singers, and 

48 



the musical evenings which they spent together 
were much enjoyed by all. 

The life of Mrs. Sage and her husband 
was later overshadowed by the loss of four 
of their five children, between the ages of nine- 
teen and twenty-nine years, all living at home 
until their deaths, which occurred within nine 
years. Mr. a,nd Mrs. Sage afterward removed 
to Newark, N. J., where she died a few^ years 
later, at the age of sixty-three. Their chil- 
dren : Elizabeth Williams, born June 17, 
1830, died August 16, 1859; Frances Mer- 
win, born February 21, 1832, died February i, 
185 1 ; Martha Marietta, born February 13, 
1834, died June 9, 1856; Charles Edmund was 
born February 3, 1838; Henry Lewis, born 
September 20, 1841, died April 25, i860. 

Elizabeth Williams Sage, daughter of 
Edmund and Rhoda (Merwin) Sage, was a 
graduate of the State Normal School of New 
Britain. She was for several years an enthus- 
iastic and very successful teacher, until failing 
health obliged her to relinquish her work. So 
devoted to her profession was she that, when 
cautioned by her physician against continuing 

in school, she remarked to her friends: "If 
4 

49 



I knew I could live only one year and continue 
teaching, or two years without teaching, I 
should choose to teach." 

Frances Merwin Sage died at nineteen, 
Martha Marietta Sage at twenty-two and 
Henry Lewis Sage at nineteen years of age 
(children of Edmund and Rhoda (Merwin) 
Sage). They were all of good ability, kind- 
hearted, and apparently had reason to expect 
successful and happy lives. The three cousins, 
Henry M. Baldwin, Henry Lewis Sage and 
Henry Gleason Newton, being nearly the same 
age, were often in company, and the "three 
Henrys" always had enjoyable times together. 

Charles Edmund Sage, son of Edmund 
and Rhoda (Merwin) Sage, served through 
the Civil war, enlisting in the Fifth Connecti- 
cut Regiment, in June, 1861. He was sworn 
into service as a member of the Fifth Regiment 
Band, was in several battles, and was dis- 
charged in 1862; then was appointed carrier 
of dispatches at the headquarters of the gen- 
eral commanding. Afterward, for ten years, 
he was located in Newark, N. J., superintend- 
ing the erection of many buildings, both pub- 
lic and private. Then, purchasing a farm in 

50 




Charlks EuMuxi) Sack 
Band 5th Reg. C. V. 

1S3S-1903 
Eighth generation 



Somerset county, N. ]., he removed thither, 
where he at present resides. 

Mr. Sage was married September 19, 1868, 
to Mary Anna Esch. Their children : Walter 
Merwin, born October 15, 1869; Edmund 
Esch, July 6, 1871 ; Frederick Henry, Novem- 
ber 24, 1874, 

Walter Merwin Sage, son of Charles E. 
and Mary A. (Esch) Sage, is a graduate of 
the State Normal School of New Jersey, and 
of the Law School of Dickinson College, Car- 
lisle, Penn. ; he also graduated in the classical 
course of the same college, holding three di- 
plomas, and having the degree A. M. con- 
ferred by said college. He is at present prin- 
cipal of the Fairview school, North Hoboken, 
New Jersey, 

Edmund Esch Sage, son of Charles E. 
and Mary A. (Esch) Sage, is a graduate of 
the New Jersey State Normal School, holding 
a life certificate, and is now principal of the 
Diamond Hill school of Summit, New Jersey. 

Frederick Henry Sage, son of Charles 
E. and Mary A. (Esch) Sage, also holds a 
State Normal life certificate, and is principal 

51 



of the Long- Hill school, in Gillette, Morris 
Co., N. J., where he resides. 

NOAH MERWIN, younger son of Miles 
Merwin, Sr., and Phebe (Camp) Merwin, al- 
ways resided in Durham, his native town. He 
followed the employment of his father, pur- 
chasing a farm near the old homestead. A 
man of strong convictions, he refused to go 
with his party when that party selected as a 
candidate a slave holder and duelist (Henry 
Clay), and became an Abolitionist w:hen Abo- 
litionists were unpopular, even though he 
thereby, for a time, alienated some of his best 
friends. Conscientious in the performance of 
his Christian duties, he was a constant attend- 
ant at the Sabbath services and at the prayer- 
meeting. 

Mr. Merwin married November 24, 1837, 
Olive Stowe (born November 25, 1809, died 
May 12, 1884), of Middlefleld, Conn. Their 
children: Lucy Stowe, born November 7, 
1839 (died August 30, 1840) ; Lucy Stowe, 
June 30, 1841 ; Edward Pay son, March 23, 
1844; Charles Baldwin, August 3, 1848. 

Lucy Stowe Merwin, daughter of Noah 

52 




Edward Paysux Mkrwin 
Eighth generation 



and Olive (Stowe) Merwin, was educated at 
the Durham Academy, Ipswich Female Semi- 
nary and Mt, Holyoke Seminary, of which lat- 
ter she is a graduate. For thirty-eight years 
she was engaged in teaching, most of the time 
in the public schools, in the higher grammar 
grades and the high school department. For 
twenty-tfive years she taught in her native 
State; for two years was assistant principal of 
the Bucksville Academy, in Kentucky ; for five 
years taught in the middle West, in Pueblo, 
Colo., and Cheyenne, Wyo., the last two years 
as principal of the high school ; and for four 
years taught in Portland, Oregon. 

Fond of travelling, she improved her va- 
cations in visiting Alaska, the Hawaiian Isl- 
ands, and interesting points in Colorado, Wy- 
oming, Utah and California. She has crossed 
the continent six times. One year she spent 
in the Adirondacks. 

Edward Payson Merwin, son of Noah 
and Olive (Stowe) Merwin, was educated at 
Durham Academy and the Indianapolis High 
School. For some years he w&s with Colt's 
Fire Arms Company in Hartford, and after- 
ward was for three years in New Jersey ; then 

53 



for thirteen years with the Wheeler & Wilson 
Company, of Bridgeport, Conn. ; and for the 
last twenty years has been with the Morley 
Button Sewing Machine Company of Ports- 
mouth, N. H., where he resides. He has made 
some important and valuable inventions on 
sewing machines. 

His aunt, Mrs. Phebe C. White, had a life 
estate in the Merwin homestead, and after her 
decease, in 1884, it passed to the children of 
Noah Merwin. Edward P. Merwin, being the 
elder son, purchased the interest of his brother 
and sister, and is now; the owner, occupying 
it during his vacations. The entire Merwin 
family hope it may long continue in the Mer- 
win name. He was married June 10, 1884, to 
Martha L. Hulme (born December 22, 1843). 
Their daughter, Jennie, born July 28, 1885, 
died August 9, of the same year. 

Charles Baldwin Merwin, son of Noah 
and Olive (Stowe) Merwin, v/as educated at 
Durham Academy. He was for a time in the 
employ of the Boston & New York Air Line 
Railroad Company. In 1873 he went to New 
York and was for five years in the establish- 
ment of P. S. Smith ; then went into business 

54 




Chaklks Baldwin Mkkwin 

1 848- 1 904 

Eighth generation 



on his own account, as a manufacturing sta- 
tioner and printer, in lines requiring the best 
skill and utmost care. He makes a specialty 
of supplying seminaries and colleges, and also 
of legal printing. He is held in high esteem 
in both business and social relations. He re- 
sides in Bayonne, N. J., and is a member of 
the Newark Bay Boat Club. He was married 
August 3, 1 87 1, to Ella Jane Crowell (born 
April 17, 185 1, died January 2, 1892), of Dur- 
ham, Conn. He married (second) October 18, 
1893, Ada Emeline Ballard (born November 
29, 1868), of New York City. 

NANCY MARIA MERWIN, youngest 
daughter of Miles Merwin, Sr., and Phebe 
(Camp) Merwin, married December 5, 1838, 
Gaylord Newton (bom July 31, 1804, died 
December 16, 1883), in whose school she had 
been a pupil. Before her marriage she taught 
in the district school of Durham, and was a 
teacher in the Sunday-school as long as she 
was able to be there. She was a member of 
the choir, and always helpful in church and 
neighborhood ; always ready in sickness and 
trouble tO' do for others more than her strength 

55 



would admit; always cheerful and 'happy, 
brave and uncomplaining, and absolutely con- 
scientious. She viewed the slow approach of 
certain death as calmly as if she were about 
to take a journey to a neighboring state; to 
her last hour thoughtful for the welfare of the 
husband and children she was leaving. Their 
children: Ellen Maria, born June 24, 1841 
(died October 7, 1863) ' Henry Gleason, June 
5, 1843; Caroline Gaylord, January 21, 1845. 

Ellen Maria Newton, daughter of Gay- 
lord and Nancy M. (Merwin) Newton, from 
the age of fourteen had charge of the house- 
hold. Gifted with an especially fine ear for 
music, she became church organist in her early 
girlhood. Quick-witted and sprightly, she 
was usually associated with those older than 
herself, and was a universal favorite, but best 
loved where best known. She had a class in 
Sunday-school, and among her latest acts was 
writing a letter to each scholar, her strength 
failing before she had completed the last let- 
ter. 

Henry Gleason Newton, only son of 
Gaylord and Nancy M. (Merwin) Newton, 
was named in memory of Rev. Henry Gleason, 

56 




la^ 



'<ry-L 



who united them in marriage, and during 
whose short ministry^, ended by his death, the 
church in Durham doubled its membershiip. 
He was married September ii, 1885, to Sar- 
ah Allen Baldwin, M. D. (before men- 
tioned). ,He was educated in Durham Acad- 
emy, entered Wesleyaii University, in Middle- 
town, Coim., in 1861, but, his health failing, 
left in the first year. He taught the South 
school in Durham in 1862; entered colleo-e 
again in 1863, when his health again failed; 
taught the South school in Northford in 1865 
and 1866, where his great-uncle Bur well New- 
ton had taught many years before in the same 
building, and to which said Burwell left a 
fund for the aid of the school. Hfe entered 
Wesleyan again in 1867, graduating in 1870, 
being a member of the Eclectic Fraternity and 
the Phi Beta Kappa. 'He graduated from the 
Yale Law School in 1872, taking two essay 
prizes in Civil and Common Law, and the 
valedictory at class day, and was admitted to 
the Bar. He has practiced law in New Ha- 
ven since that time, retaining his residence in 
Durham for a long time. He was for ten years 
acting school visitor in Durham, and 

57 



has been attorney for the town most 
of the time for thirty years. He was 
elected to the General Assembly in 1885, when 
he was chairman of the Judiciary committee, 
and leader of the House. Declared elected 
the next year by one vote, he claimed a mis- 
count, contested his own election as attorney 
for his competitor, and succeeded in having 
himself unseated, and his opponent seated, at 
the opening of the second day of the session, 
the shortest time on record. He was elected 
to the General Assembly from New Haven in 
1895, and was chairman of committee on Hu- 
mane Institutions ; obtained the passage of a 
bill for a State Reformatory, and the adop- 
tion by the House of an amendment revising 
the State Constitution (both of which meas- 
ures were killed at the next session), as well as 
several other important laws which still sur- 
vive. Mr. Newton is the author of some le- 
gal treatises ; chairman of the board of direc- 
tors of the City Missionary Association of 
New Haven from its organization; director 
and a member of the board of trustees in the 
New Haven Y. M. C. A. ; director of and at- 
torney for the National New Haven Bank; 

58 



trustee of the Farmers' & Mechanics' Sav- 
ings Bank of Middletown ; member of the 
Sons of the American Revolution and Sons 
of the Colonial Wars ; Referee in Bankruptcy 
for New Haven county; member of State 
Board of Health. He has been active in 
Plymouth Church and Sunday-school for thir- 
ty years, and is deacon of the Congregation- 
al Church in Durham. He is the author of 
the "History of Durham" in the ''History 
of Middlesex County," published by J. B. 
Beers & Co. He was president of the day at 
the celebration of the Durham Bi-Centennial, 
July 4, 1899, and on the latter occasion wrote 
the following hymn, which, as it is the only 
poem extant specially descriptive of Durham, 
is here inserted : 

Two centuries since, the Beaver Dami lay smiling hills 

between; 
A trackless maze was Coginchaiig2 of swamp and forest 

green; 

The settlers' sturdy axe strokes rang and Durham's fields 
were seen, 

And we her praises sing. 
Hold we now her bi-centennial, 
May her joy remain perennial, 
Till they on her last millennial, 

Durham's praises sing. 

59 



Our fathers early sought to be combined in church estate; 
Their meeting-house upon the Green they built with 

hearts elate; 
With churches three their children now their labors 

emulate,^ 

And Durham's praises sing. 
Standing Order* raise the strain, 
Methodists take it up again, 
Churchmen swell the glad refrain, 

Durham's praises sing. 

The Center schoolhouse soon was built, well hewn was 

every log; 
Then West, Southwest and South appear upon the cata- 
logue ;3 
The North and Quarry lately joined to recall Cogin- 
chaug.s 

And Durham's praises sing. 
North and Quarry set it ringing. 
South and Center join in singing. 
West and Southwest voices bringing, 
Durham's praises sing. 

We celebrate this festal day two hundred years of worth; 
The fairest, loveliest, dearest town that ever was on earth; 
Our heartfelt prayers and earnest vows we mingle with 
our mirth, 

And Durham's praises sing. 
Hold we now her bi-centennial, 
May her glory be perennial, 
Till they on her last millenial, 

Durham's praises sing. 



1. All that remains of Beaver Dam is a strip of firm land 
across Durham Meadows about midway between the causeways. 

2. Coginchaug, the Indian name for Durham, signifies Thick 
Swamp or Long Swamp. 

3. Poor rhyme but diflScult to avoid. 

4. The Congregational Churches were formerly called the 
Standing Order," because they were established by law and main 

ained by taxation. . 

5. The North and Quarry School Districts united under the 
name of Coginchaug. 

60 



Caroline Gaylord Newton, daughter 
of Gaylord and Nancy M. (Merwin) Newton, 
was educated at the Durham Academy in its 
palmy days, and taught for several terms in 
Durham and Wallingford before her marriage 
to Henry Huntington Newton, December 9, 
1864. In 1866 Mr. Newton purchased the 
former home of Benjamin H. Coe, the artist, 
where they have resided ever since. Several 
pictures painted by Mr. Coe over seventy-five 
years ago are still in the house. 

After her sister's death, she was for many 
years church organist, and until recently has 
been a member of the choir. She early had 
a class in Sunday-school and now has charge 
of the junior department, and is active in ev- 
ery department of church work. 

She has never missed a meeting of the 
Historical Society, formed in 1899 at the cel- 
ebration of the 200th anniversary of the 
founding of the town, and has been especially 
active in its maintenance, and one of the 
principal contributors to its list of historical 
sketches, and is also a valued and frequent 
contributor to the pleasure of the literary circle. 

61 



ERRATA. 

Omitted from page 40: 

Mary Ellen Arnold,' daughter of Henry and 
Mary A. (Noble) Arnold, born Nov 10 1872- 
died Aug. 16, 1873. 

Omitted from page 51: 

Edmund Esch Sage was married Oct. 5 1901 
to Anna Louisa Armbruster. 

Frederick Henry Sage was married Feb 15 
1902, to Hattie Augusta Armbruster. 
Page 58: 

National New Haven Bank should be Yale 
National Bank. 
Page 31 : 

Francis Sistere should bo Frances Sistare. 



63 



MARRIAGES. 
Since January 1, 1903. 

1903. April 12. Grace Clara Merwin, p. 16. 

David Henry Haight. 

1904. May 29. Charles Benjamin Merwin, p. 16. 

Winnifred Brown. 

1904. June 1. Mary Emma Webster, p. 38. 

Lester John Hutchins. 

1905. Jan. 2. Edward Clark Arnold, p. 40. 

Dora Diers. 

1906. Feb. 1. Ellen Bristol, p. 30. 

Marshall Mott Atwell. 
1906. June 2. Fannie Canfield Wetmore, p. 22. 
William Elijah Atwood. 

1906. July 25. Hattie Louise Webster, p. 38. 

Leland Walter Gwatkin. 

1907. June 29. Albert Clifford Lee, p. 33. 

Harriet Maud Hotchkiss. 

1908. May 26. Phebe White Merwin, p. 19. 

Adolph Jeau Bode. 

1908. Nov. 28. Gertrude Estelle Merwin, p. 14. 

George Baldwin Wells. 

1909. June 20. George Barber Merwin, 

Luella McCracken. 
1909. Aug. 3. Helen lola Barhite, p. 18. 

Edwin Adams Holmes. 
1909. Sept. 4. Sylvia Maria Barhite, p. 18. 

Archibald V. Davis. 



64 



64 a 



64 b 



64 c 



BIRTHS. 

Since September 1, 1902, 

1902. Sept. 3. Elma to Edmund EschSage, 
p. 61. 

1903. Jan. 4, Jessie to Arthur Henry Mer- 
win, p. 19. 

1903. Aug 5. George Charles to Frederick 
Henry Sage, p. 51. 

1903. Oct. 31. Edith Ida to William Cleve- 
land Noble, p. 39. 

1905. March 1. Charles Lee to Edward 
Merwiu Lee Bristol, p. 30. 

1905. May 16. Joseph Lester to Mary Web- 
ster Hutchins, p. 38. 

1905. Sept. 22. Charles Andrew to Charles 
Benjamin Merwin, p. 16. 

1906. Aug. 19. Dorothy Stone to Grace 
Merwin Haight, p. 16. 

1906. Aug. 31. Esther Russell to Ralph 
Linsley Merwin, p. 16. 

1906. Nov. 23. Ruth to Ellen Bristol At- 
well, p. 30. 

1907. March SO. Florence Irene to Arthur 
H. Merwin, p. 19. 

1907. July 18. Emily Luetta to Charles 
Benjamin Merwin, p. 16. 

1907. Nov. 14. Mary Anna to Edmund 
Esch Sage, p. 51. 

1908. Aug. 16. Charlotte Griffin to Grace 
Merwin Haight, p. 16. 

1909. June 12. Emma Eleanor to Ellen 
Bristol Atwell, p. 30. 

1909. July 9. Dorothy Beatrice to Edward 
Clark Arnold, p. 40. 

65 



1910. March 16. David Henry to Grace 
Merwin Haight, p. 16. 

1910. May 15. George Raymond to Gertrude 
Merwin Wells, p. 14. 

1910. July 26. Evelyn Clara to George 
Barber Merwin, p. 16. 



65 a 



65 b 



65 c 



IN MEMORIAM. 

Charles Edmund Sage died August 12, 1903, 
the first death after this book was first printed. 

This was a few days before a gathering of the 
descendants of our grandtather at the home of 
Miles Talcott Merwin, in Durham. 

Mr. Sage had planned, and was very desirous 
to be present, but at the time of the meeting he 
was on a sick bed, from which he never arose. 
He bore his part in life well and faithfully and 
his descendants are doing theirs worthily. 

Emma Amelia Noble died November 23, 1903. 
She and her sister Clara were twins, and, when 
they were young looked so exactly alike that it 
puzzled the relatives to tell them apart. She was 
always much beloved by all who knew her. She 
lived with her family until her decease, which 
came after a long and painful illness, during 
which she was tenderly cared for by her father. 

Miles Talcott Merwin, the oldest of the cou- 
sins, died July 29, 1904. His manner of death 
befitted him. Eighty- two years of age, climbing 
a ladder in his barn, he fell and never recovered 
from the accident. 

Undismayed by misfortune, he had fought the 
battle of life bravely to the end, and won true 
success. 

Charles Baldwin Merwin died October 31, 

66 



1904. He was the youngest of the cousins. 
He remembered his Town and the Church of his 
parents, and the Sunday School he attended in 
his youth, leaving $20,000 for the schools of 
Durham after the decease of his wife, several 
thousand dollars to the Church, one thousand 
dollars to the Sunday School, and a fund to 
establish a school library. 

Walter Lee Merwin, son of Miles Talcott 
Merwin, died February T, 1905. He had been a 
practicing lawyer in Pittsburg, Penn., for many 
years. He was called very suddenly, his sick- 
ness being less than forty-eight hours. He had 
done his work well and was highly respected 
and deeply mourned. 

Mary Elizabeth Van Size died October 15, 

1905. She was then the oldest of the cousins. 
Active and vigorous up to the short illness which 
preceded her decease, the secretary of a large 
Sunday School Class, always present at Church 
services, interested in her descendants, helping 
wherever she saw help needed, the tribute paid 
to her memory by her pastor at her funeral was 
one rarely equaled, and touched the hearts of 
all. 

William Merwin Noble died March 8, 

1906. He was then the oldest of the cousins. 
Universally respected, he lived the typical New 

67 



England life, and his memory is cherished by 
many descendants. 

Henry Huntington Newton died October 
0, 1907. He was the husband of Caroline Gay- 
lord Newton, they both being descendants in the 
seventh generation of the first Miles Merwin. 
He was by all recognized as the best man in the 
Durham Congregational Church, and was for 
forty-three years an officer in that Church. 

Mary Esch Sage, widow of Charles Edmund 
Sage, died November 19, 1907, and was buried 
in the Sage Lot in Cromwell, many of the Mer- 
win relatives attending. She had lived her life 
well. Her worth is attested by her children 
following in her footsteps. 

Gaylord Kimball Noble, son of Robert Mil- 
drum Noble, died October 29, 1908. He was 
nineteen years old, had finished his preparatory 
course and entered upon his second year in 
Ames Agricultural College. The faculty and 
students of the College united with the citizens 
of Riceville in their expression of grief and 
respect. 

William Cltrtiss Mains, husband of Sara 
Bristol, died January 23, 1909. 

Highly educated, well qualified and success- 
ful in his chosen profession of the law, earnest 

68 



and persistent in every movement for the public 
good, he was beloved by a host of friends. 

Martha Hulme Merwin, wife of Edward 
Payson Merwin, died August 25, 1909, at the 
old Merwin homestead in Durham, which was 
owned and occupied by her husband's grand- 
father and great grandfather. She bore her 
sickness bravely and was recognized as a worthy 
member of our tribe. 

Mary Elizabeth Griswold Lee died Decem- 
ber 2, 1909. 

Her forty-two years of married life were spent 
in the ancestral home of the Lees in Guilford, 
Conn. 

Before marriage she w^as a teacher. Notwith- 
standing her many years of ill health her 
children are among the most robust of the Mer- 
win descendants, and they fully recognize that 
she filled the highest place, that of a wise and 
faithful mother. 

Henry Sage Merwin died March 12, 1910. 
He was then eighty-six years of age, approach- 
ing more nearly than any other of that genera- 
tion, as yet, to the age reached by their grand- 
father. He occupied the house built for him at 
the time of his marriage, his two surviving sons 
being near to care for him in the later months 
of feebleness of mind and body. 



69 



He was a faithful attendant upon the services 
of Church and Sunday School until his hearing 
failed, and was always ready to do his share of 
the world's work. 

Ada Emeline Ballard Merwin, widow of 
Charles B. Merwin, died August 30, 1910. 

She was very dear to her husband, who pro- 
vided generously for her in his will; attractive, 
and much liked by the large number of his 
relatives with whom she became acquainted. 



70 



70 a 



70 b 



70 c 



MERWIN REUNION. 

The re-union of the descendants of Miles Mer- 
win Sixth, or Miles Merwin Sr. as he was called 
in his lifetime, was held at the residence of Miles 
T. Merwin, in Durham, on Thursday, August 6, 
1903. There were present: — Miles Talcott Mer- 
win, Ella E. Merwin, Emily F. Merwin, Agnes 
D. Merwin, Lucy S. Merwin, Asaph M. Merwin, 
Harry M. Merwin, Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Newton, 
Henry S. Merwin, of Durham; George B. Mer- 
win, Blue Mountain Lake, N. T. ; Mrs. Mary E. 
VanSize, Utica, N. Y.; Mr. and Mrs. John Ives, 
Leland H. Ives, Mrs. James P. Piatt and daugh- 
ter Margery, Martha S. Wetmore, of Meriden; 
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Lee, Albert Clifford 
Lee and Miss Hotchkiss, (since Mrs. A. C. Lee) 
of Guilford ; Mr. and Mrs. A. Earle Baldwin and 
daughter Harriet, of Branford; Mr. and Mrs. H. 
G. Newton, Charles Sherman Lee, Mr. and Mrs. 
William Randall Lee, of New Haven; Mr. and 
Mrs. Thomas Noble, Sarah E. Noble, T. Harry 
Noble, of Cromwell, Caroline Newton Stevens. 

Letters of regret and of greeting were received 
from many absent members, among them, from 
Benjamin Foote Merwin and Clara, his wife, of 
Blue Mountain Lake, Adirondacks, N. Y., on 
behalf of themselves and their seven children; 
Walter L. Merwin of Pittsburg, Penn., Charles 
B. Merwin of New York City, Ellen Lee Bristol 

71 



and S. Allen Bristol, her husband, of Cheyenne, 
Wyoming, and their thirteen children and grand- 
children, all signing; Edward Arnold, of New 
York City, Maria Merwin Black, Caroline Black 
Safford, of Middlefield, Sylvia Elizabeth Barhite 
of Ridgefield, Conn. ; Gen. Edward Merwin Lee 
of New York City sent a letter especially com- 
memorating the virtues of the three wives of 
Miles Merwin. 

Of those present there were 14 grand-children 
with husbands and wives, 17 great-grand-child- 
ren, and five great-great-grand-children of 
Miles Merwin (1772-1859). 

A Miles Merwin Association was formed with 
the intent of including other descendants of the 
original Miles Merwin who settled in Milford. 

The Abner Newton who came to Durham in 
1724, was a grandson of that Miles Merwin, and 
there are many other descendants of the first 
Miles Merwin, probably several thousand, scat- 
tered through the country, many in New Haven, 
Milford and surrounding towns. 

Miles Talcott Merwin, the oldest grand-child 
present, was elected President and patriarch of 
the association. Mary Elizabeth Vansize, of 
Utica, N. Y., the next oldest grand-child present, 
was chosen Vice-President and matriarch. 

Caroline G. Newton, who was elected Secre- 
tary, wife of Henry H. Newton, of Durham, 

73 



read a historical paper, a part of which was as fol- 
lows: 

"There is a beautiful old cemetery in the town 
of Windsor, and the steep green bank from its 
western border slopes down to the quiet waters 
of the Farmington River. The newer graves 
are made close to the wall of the plain white 
church, for this cemetery is literally a church 
yard, and has been, since the first one was laid 
there, about the vear 1636. The earliest stones 
have disappeared, if indeed any were placed there 
in the first days when there was constant fear of 
the Indians; but there is one to the memory of 
Eunice Talcott Hooker, a relative of us all, 
daughter of Gov. Talcott, and wife of Nathaniel 
Hooker, dated 1643. There are many noted 
names here: — Gov. Toucey, Oliver Ellsworth, 
Gov. Roger Wolcott: Above the grave of Wolcott 
is the inscription: 

"Earth's highest station ends in 'Here he lies" 
And dust to dust concludes her noblest song." 

But the one with which the record of Miles 
Merwin has to do is an oblong box-like structure 
of brown sand-stone; on the sides of which is 
carved this inscription: 

"In memory of Rev. John Wareham. 
He was installed Pastor of this church 
at its organization in Plymouth, Eng- 

73 



land, in 1630. They arrived in this 
country the 30th of May the same year, 
and remained at Dorchester, Mass. five 
years, when they removed to this town. 
Here Mr. Wareham continued his pas- 
toral labors to his flock until April 1, 
1670, when he slept in the Lord. He 
was among the most eminent of New 
England's early Divines. 

Erected by his Church, 1842." 

The Memorial History of Hartford County 
says that "Miles Merwin was a nephew of this 
Rev. John Warham," but he was a nephew of 
the minister's wife, Mrs. Abigail Blanchard 
Warham. He came with her as a boy, and 
continued living with or near her for many 
years, and his removal to Milford was later than 
has been supposed, for he is mentioned in the 
Windsor Records in 1648 and "in 1650 he 
bought from Roger Williams the Marshfield 
place, and sold it in 1652." This land, still 
known as the Miles Merwin lot, is a few rods 
south of the place where once lived the Mr. 
Stiles who wrote the History of Windsor. 

The present Congregational Church in Wind- 
sor stands on the site of the first church, and 
the original inhabited plot of ground must have 
been larger than the present green, which still 
bears the name of Palisado Green, for in the 

74 



year 1636 every dwelling was within the en- 
closure surrounded by palisades for protection 
from the Indians. Miles' home at first was, of 
course, with his relatives, but he early mar- 
ried, and established a home for himself, his 
first wife being Elizabeth Baldwin. 

His land is on the eastern side of the Farm- 
ington River, but it was not many years before 
the Rev. Mr. Warham removed his residence to 
the west side of the river, crossing it in a row- 
boat every Sunday for the weekly services. 

There are descendants of the name of Merwin 
still living near the old Palisado Green, of 
whom John is the ancestor. 

Miles married in Milford Sarah Piatt Beach, 
the daughter of Richard Piatt, and the widow 
of Thomas Beach. She died in 1670, the same 
year in which occurred the death of Rev. John 
Warham. After her death, Miles married once 
more, Sarah Scofield, who outlived him. Miles 
Merwin had twelve children, and the widow 
Beach having six of her own by Thomas 
Beach, made a good old-fashioned family, if all 
were living at one time. Eliza or Elizabeth, 
John, Abigail, Thomas, Samuel, Miles, Daniel, 
Martha and Mary or Maria, twins, Hannah, 
Deborah and the other Daniel. Of these twelve 
all but one, Daniel, lived to grow up and marry. 
Eliza married a Canfield; Abigail, a Scofield; 



75 



John, born in 1650, we find settled on the home- 
stead, but the fact that his descendants are still 
in Windsor, may mean that he afterward 
returned to that place and settled on the Wind- 
sor homestead. Thomas settled in Norwalk, 
Samuel married Sarah Woodin and settled in 
New Haven. The descendants of Miles Merwin 
still own Pond Point and Merwin's Point in 
Milford. Daniel died young. Martha married 
James Prince, and Mary, a Hull. Hannah 
married Abel Holbrook, and Deborah, Samuel 
Burwell. 

The youngest of these children, Deborah Mer- 
win, born in 1670, married Samuel Burwell, 
and their daughter Mary, born in 1700, married 
Abuer Newton, and came with him to Durham. 
The wife of Abner Newton and Daniel Merwin, 
coming about the same time, being first cousins. 
Gay lord Newton and Nancy Merwin, marrying 
nearly 120 years later, were really fifth cousins, 
though entirely ignorant of that fact. 

Miles, the fourth son of the first Miles, mar- 
ried Hannah Wilmot Miles, widow of Samuel 
Miles. His son, Daniel, born about 1688, mar- 
ried Sarah Botsford, a woman a few years older 
than himself, and in 1721, they removed to 
Durham, three years later, their cousins Abner 
and Mary Newton coming also. 

The Town of Durham had then been laid out 

76 



only about 15 years, the original plan, of which 
I have a copy, being dated 1707, the General 
Assembly a little before that time empowering 
the Guardian of Hezekiah Talcott to sell a suf- 
ficient number of lots on each side of the main 
street for the settlement of the place. Hezekiah 
came of age Feb. 1706-7. The tract of land 
marked on the plan as his, extended the whole 
length of Main Street, from Mr. Burckel's to be- 
low the Green, and had been granted to his 
grandfather, Col. John Talcott, one of the first 
settlers of Hartford, by the General Court, for 
services in the Indian Wars. 

The cousins Newton and Merwin settled on this 
Main street, Newton in the south part, near the 
Mill Pond on Allyn's Brook, which he bought, 
and Daniel Merwin in the house now owned by 
William C. Hubbard. 

Daniel Merwin bought a very large farm and 
many acres of the same land are still owned by his 
descendants. Some of this land was in Middle- 
town and some in Durham, and it was many 
years before the boundary line between these 
two towns was established so that he could know 
exactly in which town taxes were due. Mr. 
Merwin had much to do with fixing the line 
which now stands, and some papers with records 
of surveys and petitions etc., are still in the 
carved old oaken chest which has been inherited 
by his great-grandson, Miles Talcott Merwin. 

77 



Daniel died April 17, 1766, in his 78th year. 
His wife, Sarah Botchford Merwin, died Sept. 
23, 1764, 82 years old, and their grave-stones, 
large and handsome brown sand-stone, stand on 
the summit of the hill in the old grave-yard. 
They had three children, Daniel, born in Mil- 
ford, May 15, 1718; Miles, afterward known as 
Lieut. Miles Merwin, also born in Milford, 
March 29, 1721; and Elizabeth, born Feb 14 
1722-3. ' 

This Miles Merwin, son of Daniel Sr., was a 
young man only 18 years of age at the time of 
the organization of the first military company 
in 1739. James Wads worth, born in Farming- 
ton in 1675, and one of the first settlers in 
Durham, at this time more than sixty years old, 
was made Colonel of the 10th Connecticut Reg- 
iment of Militia, and the cartridge box now in 
the possession of Miles Tal ;ott Merwin, marked 
2nd Company 10th Regiment, seems proof that 
it was the one carried by Lieut. Miles Merwin 
under Col. Wadsworth. 

In the Colonial Records of Connecticut, page 
70, Vol. II, appears this record of the General 
Assembly held in Hartford, May 1757. 

"This assembly do establish Mr. Miles Merwin 
to be cornet of the troop of horse in the 10th 
Regiment in this Colony;" the cornet of a 
company being at that time the officer who car- 

78 



ried the standard in a company or troop of 
horse. 

Seven years later, May, 1764, page 255, Vol. 
XIII, of the Colonial Records, reads; "This 
assembly do establish Mr. Miles Merwin to be 
Lieut, of the troop of horse in the 10th Regt. in 
this Colony." Long before this, and soon after 
he came of age, this Miles of the 4th generation 
had married Mary Talcott, a daughter of the 
Hezekiah Talcott who had owned the most of 
the land comprising Durham Main Street. 

Another paper tells how notable the Talcott 
family had already been in the history of the 
Connecticut Colony, her grandfather, John Tal- 
cott, having been the means of securing the 
Charter which Wadsworth hid in the Charter 
Oak, and her Uncle Joseph Talcott having been 
for seventeen years Governor of Connecticut at 
the time of her marriage with Miles Merwin. 

Their first son Miles was born May 12, 1744; 
two years later came Daniel, then at intervals 
of three years Job, Noah, Mary, Rhoda, Sarah 
and David. 

Tliis Miles, the fifth generation, married Mary 
Parmelee and had eleven children, three only 
being sons, Miles, Jesse and Noah. The eight 
daughters being of no particular consequence 
need not be named. 

This Miles, the sixth generation, and our 



79 



grandfather, married Phebe Camp, Nov. 27, 
1794. A bit of her wedding dress is before lis, 
and the chairs on which they sat on their wed- 
ding day more than a century ago." 

******** 

Addresses were made by Miles Talcott Merwin 
and Mary E. VanSize. Many reminiscences 
were called up by the others especially by 
Wealthy S. Ives, Henry S. Merwin, William 
H. Lee, and Lucy Stowe Merwin. 

Many pieces of the old family china and silver 
were used at the table, and called forth re- 
miniscences from the older ones who had used 
them as children. 

The gathering had been planned as a lawn 
party, but during the afternoon the rain fell in 
torrents and continued until late in the night. 
Two teams had driven from Guilford, one from 
New Haven, two from Meriden, and one from 
Cromwell. The rain detracted nothing from the 
festivities, social intercourse and merriment 
within doors. 



So 



INDEX. 



The small figures prefixed to some names indicate the generation in the 
line of descent from the emigrant ancpstor 



Armbruster 

Anna Louisa 63 

Hattie Augusta 63 
Arnold 

Charles 40 

Dora (Diers) 64 

Dorothy Beatrice 65 

Edward Clark 40, 64, 71 

Frank Hubbard 40 

Henry 39, 40, 41, 63 

Henry, Jr. 40 

Mary A. (Noble) 36. 39, 40, 63 

Mary (Hazen) 40 

Mary Ellen 63 
Atwell 

Ellen (Bristol) 30, 64 

Emma Eleanor 65 

Marshall Mott 64 

Ruth 65 
Atwood 

Fannie C. (Wetmore) 22, 64 

William Elijah 64 
Bailey, Kate A. 19 
Baldwin 

Addison Earle 32, 70 

Alva (Merwin) 9, 36, 43, 44, 
46, 47. 48 

Dorothy Rae 32 

Elizabeth 74 

Elizabeth Maddock, 3, 41, 42, 

44, 45, 70 
Harriet Carpenter 32, 70 



Baldwin 

Henry Merwin 44, 46, 50 

Isaac Stebbins 43, 44, 46, 47 

Lyman Merwin 43, 44 

Mary Elizabeth 44, 45, 46, 67, 
70, 71. 79 

Ruth Mary (Lee) 32, 70 

Sarah Allen, 3, 44, 47, 57, 70 
Ballard, Ada Emeline 55 
Barhite 

Emma Agnes 19 

Helen lola 18, 64 

Sylvia E. (Merwin) 18, 71 

Syhna Maria 18, 64 

William Curtis 18 
Barker, Fannie O. 14 
Beach 

Sarah (Piatt) 74 

Thomas 74 
Belden 

Elizabeth M. (Baldwin) 3, 41, 
42, 44, 45, 70 

Lewis 45 
Birdsey 

Eddie 21 

Gershom 21 

Phebe C. (Merwin) 12, 21, 22 
Black 

Carrie Phebe 23, 71 

Edwin Jerome 23 

Maria W. (Merwin) 12, 23, 71 

William Jerome 23 



81 



Blanchard, Abigail 73 
Bode 

Adolph Jean 64 

Phebe W. (Merwin) 19, 64 

Botchford, Sarah 6, 75, 77 
Bristol 

Charles Allen 30, 31 

Charles L,ee 65 

Daze M. (McCabe) 31 

Edward Merwin Lee 30 

Ellen 30, 64, 65 

Ellen M. (Lee) 28, 29, 30, 31, 
70 

Frances Sistare 31, 63 

John Allen 31 

Kate 30 

Margaret (Morrison) 31 

Ruth 30 

Samuel Allen 30, 31, 70 

Sara 30, 31 

William Merwin 31 

Brown, Winnifred 64 
Burwell 

Deborah (Merwin) 74, 75 

Mary 75 

Samuel 75 
Camp 

Nicholas 9 

Phebe 9, 10. 79 
Canfield — 74 

Eliza (Merwin) 74 
Civil War 23, 29, 30, 31, 33, 45, 

46, 50 
Crowell, Ella Jane 55 
Davis 

Archibald V. 64 

Sylvia M. (Barhite) 18, 64 
Diers, Dora 



Esch, Mary Anna 51, 68 
Foote 

Ellen Agnes 13, 14, 15, 16 

Lucy 33 

Gleason, Rev. Henry 56 
Griffin, Clara 15, 70 
Griswold 

Mary Elizabeth 32, 33, 69, 70 

Minnie Augusta 38 
Gwatkin 

Hattie L- (Webster) 38, 64 

Leland Walter 64 
Haight 

Charlotte Griffin 65 

David Henry 64 

David Henry Jr. 65a 

Dorothy Stone 65 

Grace C. (Merwin) 16, 64 
Hatch 

Harold Wetmore 22 

Julia Merwin (Wetmore) 22 

William L , 22 
Hazen, Mary 40 
Hill, Mary Frances, 39 
Holbrook 

Abel 75 

Hannah (Merwin) 74, 75 
Holmes 

Edwin Adams 64 

Helen I. (Barhite) 18, 64 

Hooker 

Eunice (Talcott) 72 

Nathaniel 72 
Hotchkiss, Harriet Maud 64, 70 

Hull 75 

Mary (Merwin) 74, 75 

Hulme. Martha L- 54. 68 

Hutchins 
Joseph Lester 65 



83 



Hutchins 

Lester John 64 

Mary E. (Webster) 38, 64 
Ives 

Harriet White 20, 70 

John 20, 70 

Leland Howard 20, 70 

Wealthy S. (Merwin) 20. 70, 
79 
Keith, Harriet (White) 11, 20, 

21, 22, 23 
Kimball, Elizabeth Sumner 39 

Kirby, Grace 10 

Leavenworth, Mary (Wooster) 

12 
Lee 

Albert Clifford 32, 33, 64, 70 

Charles Gilbert 28, 33, 34 

Charles Sherman 32 

Charlotte Elizabeth 28 

Edward Merwin 28, 

Edward Merwin (2) 28, 29, 71 

Edward Merwin 32, 33 

Ellen Maria 28, 29, 30, 31, 70 

Harriet M. (Hotchkiss) 64, 70 

James Edward 27, 28, 29, 31, 

33 
Lucy (Foote) 33 
Mary E. (Griswold) 32, 33, 

69, 70 
Mary Elizabeth 28 
Ruth Mary 32 
Ruth (Merwin) 9, 27, 28, 29, 

31. 33 
William Henry 28 

William Henry (2) 28, 31, 32, 

33. 34. 70, 79 
William Randall 32, 33 



Maddock 

Elizabeth 3, 41, 42, 44, 45, 70 

James 44 

Mary E. (Baldwin) 44, 45, 46, 
67, 70. 71, 79 
Mains 

Margaret 31 

Sara (Bristol) 30, 31 

William Curtiss 31, 68 

McCabe, Daze May 31 
Merriam, Sylvia Minerva 17, 
18. 19 

Merwin 
Abigail 74 

Abigail (Seward) 10 
Ada E. (Ballard) 55 
Agnes Dickerman, 13, 14, 15, 

70 
Alva 9 
Alva (2) 9, 36, 43, 44, 46, 47. 

48 
Asaph Merriam 17, 18, 70 
Arthur Henry 18, 19, 64 
Benjamin Foote 13, 14, 15. 7° 
Benjamin Foote, Jr. 16 
Caroline Ellen 11. 21 
Charles Andrew 65 
Charles Baldwin 52, 54, 66, 70 
Charles Benjamin 16, 65 
Clara Griffin 15, 70 
2 Daniel 74 

2 Daniel (2) 74, 75 

3 Daniel 6, 7, 17, 75, 76, 77 

4 Daniel 77 
David 78 
Deborah 74, 75 
Earl 16 

Edna Althea 19 



83 



Merwin 
Edward Payson 52, 53, 54 
Elisha Sage 17 
Eliza 74 
Elizabeth 77 
Elizabeth A. (Tyler) 13 
Elizabeth (Baldwin) 74 
Ella Elizabeth 13, 14, 15, 70 
Ella J. (Crowell)55 
Elleu A. (Foote) 13, 14, 15, 16 
Elsie Margaret 19 
Emily Foote 13, 14, 15, 70 
Emily Lottie 16 
Emily Luella 65 
Esther Russell 65 
Ethel May 16 
Fannie O. (Barker) 14 
Florence Irene 65 
Frank Howard 17, 19 
Gertrude Estelle 14, 64 
George Barber 16, 70 
Grace Clara 16, 65 
Grace (Kirby) 10 
Hannah 74, 75 
Hannah (Wilmot) (Miles) 6, 

75 
Harriet (White) (Keith) 11, 

20, 21, 22, 23 
Harry Merriam 18, 70 

Helen Elizabeth 14 

Henry Sage 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 

69, 70, 79 
Jennie 54 
Jesse 78 
Jessie 65 
Job 78 
John 74, 75 
Kate A. (Bailey) 19 



Merwin 

L(UCy Stowe 52 
Lucy Stowe (2) 52, 70, 79 
Margaret 12, 22 
Margaret Russell 15 
Maria L,. (Moore) 15 
Maria White 12, 23, 71 
Martha L. (Hulme) 54, 69 
Martha 74, 75 

3 Mary 74 

5 Mary 78 

Mary B. (Tappan) 18 
Mary E. (Pascoe) 16 
Mary W. (Leavenworth) 12 
Mary (Parmelee) 7, 78 
Mary Parmelee 9, 35, 36, 37, 

39, 41, 42, 48 
Mary (Talcott) 7, 12, 78 

1 Miles 5, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75 

2 Miles 6, 74, 75 

4 Miles 6, 77, 78 
•'> Miles 7, 78 

6 Miles 7, 9, 10, 23, 27.35,43, 

48, 52, 55, 70, 71. 78, 79 
" Miles 9, 10, rr, 12, 16, 20, 
21, 22, 23 

8 Miles Talcott 7, 11, 12, 13, 

14, 15, 16, 66, 70, 76, 77, 79 

9 Miles Tyler 13, 14 

10 Miles Herbert 14 

10 Miles Henderson 15 

Milford 16 

Myra 19 

Nancy Maria 9, 55, 56, 61, 75 

5 Noah 78 

6 Noah 78 

7 Noah 9, 52, 53, 54 
Olive (Stowe) 52, 53, 54 



84 



Merwin 

Phebe (Camp) 9, 10, 23, 27, 

35. 43. 48, 52. 55 
V Phebe Camp 3, 9, 21, 23, 24, 

25. 26, 43 
8 Phebe Camp 12, 21, 22 
Phebe White 19, 64 
Ralph Linsley 13, 14, 16, 65 
5 Rhoda 78 

7 Rhoda 9, 16, 48, 49, 50 
Russell Lee 14 
Ruth 9, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33 
Ruth Ella 19 
Samuel 74, 75 
Sarah 78 

Sarah (Botchford) 6, 75, 77 
Sarah P. (Beach) 74 
Sarah (Scofield) 74 
Sarah (Woodin) 75 
Sylvia Elizabeth 17, 18 
Sylvia M. (Merriam) 17. 18, 

19 
Theodore Edwin 14 
Thomas 74, 75 
Walter Cyrus 16 
Walter Lee 13, 15, 70 
Wealthy (Sage) 11, 12, 16 
Wealthy Sage 11, 20, 70, 79 
William Page 18 
William Walters 15 

Mildrum, Almira Parmelee 37, 

38.39 
Miles 

Hannah (Wilmot) 6, 75 
Samuel 75 

Moore, Maria Louise 15 
Morrison, Margaret 31 
Needles, Amanda 28 



Newton 

Abner 71. 75, 76 

Caroline Gaylord 3, 56, 61, 70, 

71 
Ellen Maria 56 
Gaylord 55, 56, 61, 75 
Henry Gleason 4, 50, 56, 58, 

70 
Henry Huntington 61, 68, 70 
Mary (Burwell) 75 
Nancy M. ("Merwin) 9, 55, 56, 

61, 75 
Sarah A (Baldwin) 3, 44, 47, 

57, 70 • 

Noble 

Almira P. (Mildrum) 37, 38, 

39 
Arthur William 37 

Charlotte Ellen 37, 42 

Clara Adelia 37, 38 

Curtis Cleveland 39 

Douglas 39 

Edith Ida 65 

Edward Shepard 37, 38 

Elizabeth MB. (Belden) 3, 

41, 42, 44. 45. 70 
Elizabeth S. (Kimball) 39 
Emma Amelia 37, 38, 66 
Gaylord Kimball 39, 68 
Harold Beaumont 38 
Howard Edward 39 
Isabel 39 

Julia Charlotte 38 
Kenneth Hill 39 
Le Roy Beaumont 39 
Laura A. (Pierce) 37 
Lucius Pierce 38 
Mary Amelia 36, 39, 40, 63 



85 



Noble 

Mary F. (Hill) 39 

Mary P. (Merwin) 9, 35, 36, 

37- 39' 41, 42. 48 
Merwin Lee 37, 42 
Minnie A (Griswold) 38 
Robert Mildrum 37, 39 
Robert Mildrnm, Jr. 39 
Sarah Ellen 41, 70 
1 Thomas 42 
*' Tliomas 35, 36, 37, 39, 41, 

42 
7 Thomas 36, 41, 42, 45, 70 
"^ Thomas Henry 41, 42, 70 
William Cleveland 37. 39 
William Merwin 36, 37, 38, 39 

67 
Norton, Cora May 46 

Parmelee 
Joel 7 
Mary 7, 78 

Pascoe, Mary Ella 16 
Pierce, Laura Anna 37 
Piatt 

Harriet W. (Ives) 20, 70 

James Perry 20 

James Perry, Jr. 20 

Margery 20, 70 

Richard 74 

Sarah 74 

Prince 

James 75 

Martha (Merwin) 74, 75 
Safford 

Carrie P. (Black) 23, 71 

Edward 23 

Katie Eaton 23 

86 



Sage 

Charles Edmund 49, 50, 51, 
66 

Anna L. (Armbruster) 63 

David 16 

Edmund 16. 48, 49. 50 

Edmund Esch 51, 63, 65 

Elizabeth Williams 49 

Elma 65 

Frances Merwin 49 50 

Frederick Henry 51, 63, 65 

George Charles 64 

Hatlie A. (Armbruster) 63 

Henry Lewis 49, 50 

Martha Marietta 49, 50 

Mary A. Esch 51, 68 

Mary Anna 64 

Rhoda (Merwin) 9, 16, 48, 
49. 50 

Russell 16 

Walter Merwin 51 

Wealthy II 
Scofield— 74 

Abigail (Merwin) 74 

Sarah 74 
Seward, Abigail 10 
Stark 

Amanda (Needles) 28 

Edward Thayer 28 

Mary E. (Lee) 28 
Nathan Edward 28 
Spanish War 23, 31, 32, 33 
Stevens, Caroline Newton 70 
Stowe, Olive 52, 53, 54 
Talcott 

HezekJah 76, 78 

Col. John 7, 12, 76, 78 

Gov. Joseph 72, 78 
Mary 7, 12, 78 



Tappan, Mary Ball i8 
Tyler, Elizabeth Ann 13 
Van Size 

Amelia (Ridout) 46 

Catherine Hilibard 45 

Cora M. (Norton) 46 

Ebenezer Hibbard 45, 46 

Hibbard Kimball 45, 46 

Marian G. (Fellows) 46 

Mary E. B. (Maddock) 44, 45, 
46. 67,70, 71, 79 

Mary Merwin 45 

Mary Mildred 46 

William Baldwin 45 
Wade 

John Knox 30 

John Knox, Jr. 30 

Kate 30 

Kate (Bristol) 30 
Warham 

Abigail (Blanchard) 73 

Rev. John 72, 73. 74 
Webster 

Clara A. (Noble) 37, 38 

Daniel 38 



Webster 
Gertrude 38 
Hatlie Louise 38, 64 
Helen 38 

Mary Emma 38, 64, 65 
Stewart Noble 38 
William John 38 

Wells 

George Baldwin 64 

Gertrude E- (Merwin) c ;, 64 
White 

Phebe C. (Merwin) 3, 9, 21, 
23, 24. 25, 26, 43 

Seymour 24 

Wilmot, Hannah 6, 75 

Wet more 
Abner Canfield 21, 22 
Fannie Canfield 22, 65 
Julia Merwin 21. 22 

Margaret (Merwin) 12, 22 
Martha Scovil 2 1 , 70 
Phebe C. (Merwin) (Birdsey) 
12, 21, 22 

Woodin,_ Sarah 75 



87 



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